Maybe the coolest thing a bout the below is how chronologically arrogant we are. Wait..people 1500 years ago talked like this?
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (354-430)
Sermon 256
Here...amidst the dangers and trials we and others must sing Alleluia, "for God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength," as Paul says. So then we must also sing here Alleluia. Man is still a sinner, but God is faithful.
Scripture does not say,"He will not let you be tempted," but "He will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you might be able to endure it."... How happy will be our shout of Alleuia there, how carefree, how secure from any adversary, where there is no enemy, where no friend perishes.
There praise is offered to God and here, too, but here it is by men who are anxious, there by men who are free from care, here by men who must die, there by men who will live forever. Here praise is offered in hope, there by men who enjoy the reality, here by men who are pilgrims on the way, there by men who have reached their own country.
So, brethren, let us sing Alleluia, not in the enjoyment of heavenly rest, but to sweeten our toil. Sing as travellers along the road: but keep on walking. Solace your toil by singing --do not yield to idleness. Sing but keep on walking.
What do I mean by "walking"? I mean, press on from good to better. The apostle says there are some who go from bad to worse. But if you press on, you keeep on walking. Go forward then in virtue, in true faith and right conduct. Sing up--and keep on walking.
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It the essence of our daily lives, and all those circumstances we count as "trials", one could certainly take solace in the words you just wrote. Though the mountains of some seem different than others, they are just that, different. Not higher, not lower, not easier, not harder - just different. Each of us walks the path of our circumstances with the Father in our own unique way. As unique as He made us. That is why we say "different". Zoe's circumstance, Jen's, yours, mine, my neighbor's. In all, he is producing fruit. Fruit like Mexico. Fruit like Japan. Fruit like the seeds planted at Children's, and the blogs sent forth to others who were moved to get on their knees. Fruit like the flowing tears of your Christian family who weeps with you. And fruit unseen. Until heaven.
ReplyDeleteQuote from personal email and passed on to you.. "There are so many people up in the Greenwood area praying for God's perfect timing."
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