God sanctifies and grows us not only while we are comfortably sitting in our rooms reading His Word and
praying unto Him, He also sanctifies and grows us by very unpleasant and uncomfortable situations/people.
He sanctifies us by means of trials, afflictions, heartaches, and sorrow. Most of us would prefer being
sanctified by simply the Word, prayer, and the sacraments, but the Lord takes us out of our comfortable quiet
rooms to be molded into Christ's image in all manner of situations we would not choose for ourselves. The
school of Christ wherein Jesus teaches us is not just at our desk with His Word before us, but continues
throughout the day in our marriages and families, at work, at the doctor's office and hospital, waiting in line at
the store, in natural catastrophes, in national disasters, and in persecution for our faith in Jesus Christ. In every
relationship and in every situation (even the most unpleasant ones), the Lord is at work to conform us to our
blessed Savior. |
