Still more old writings

Can we mature as Christians without suffering? As part of a forestry class in college we toured a plywood manufacturing mill. Part of the tour included a visit to the testing facility where sheets of the finished product were subjected to a variety of tests, being twisted, bent, folded, stretched and punctured to determine their structural integrity. The results of this testing determine the grade stamp on the finished product.

It is much the same with our spiritual maturation. God does not want us to be fragile, like a glass or porcelain vase. He would rather we have the spiritual integrity to endure the challenges that a fallen world brings our way. A greenhouse plant cannot endure the storms of a weather-beaten old oak. A sand dune is blown about by the wind, while the granite cliff endures the fiercest of elements.

To accomplish this he must take us into the testing room of suffering, perhaps for years at a time. And it may take many years of trials to produce the results He wants to see. To fall off and abandon my commitments, as many do, does not bring me into communion with Him. It merely means I will need to endure more testing later.

It is easy to talk and theorize about faith, but God often puts us into His crucible of affliction to test the purity of our gold, and the endurance of those around us. It separates the gold from the dross. But how happy I am now that the gales of His testing have eased, and made my Jesus more precious to me.