The difficulties we face originate from one of three sources. Some are sent to us by the Lord to test our faith, others are the result of Satan’s attacks, and still others are due to our own sinful choices.

As you consider these three causes, which type is the hardest for you to bear? I think most of us would say the last one, because we have nobody to blame but ourselves and it seems as if no good can possibly result. After all, the Word of God says that we will reap what we have sown (Gal. 6:7), so we see nothing ahead except a painful harvest.

What this kind of thinking fails to take into account is the Lord’s redemptive abilities. Although He never promises to remove all the consequences of sin, He can use our failures to teach us to fear Him, hate evil, and walk in obedience. The difficult lessons we learn can also become our protection from sin in the future. Having suffered the pain of going our own way, we’re more likely not to take that path again.

God’s arrows of affliction are sharp and painful so He can get our attention. He won’t let His beloved children get away with sin because He knows it robs us of blessings, opportunities, and even character refinement.

As painful as your situation may be, thank your heavenly Father that He cares enough to send out His loving discipline. Now it’s up to you. How will you respond to His warning? When we learn from experience, the scars of sin can lead us to restoration and a renewed intimacy with God.

 At a funeral service in 1742, two men remembered as giants of the faith stood beside their mother’s grave. John Wesley conducted the services; his brother Charles wrote the epitaph for the tombstone. In part, it read: 

 A Christian here her flesh laid down,
the cross exchanging for a crown.
True daughter of affliction, she,
inured to pain and misery…

The Father then revealed his Son;
him in the broken bread made known;
She knew and felt her sins forgiven,
and found the earnest of her heaven.

 Susanna Wesley was a woman her husband called the best of mothers. Hopeful that her children would come to know and love the Christ she loved, Susanna reserved a specific day and time each week to sit and discuss matters of God and things on their hearts. The time spent together was cherished by all, such that many continued the discussions with their mother well into adulthood through letter-writing. Once asking his mother for a definition of sin, John Wesley received a response fit for the theology books he was writing. “Take this rule,” she wrote to John. “Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off your relish of spiritual things…that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself.”(1)

 Having an opportunity for education available to few women of her time, as a young woman Susanna seized the occasion. And she continued to seize occasions to learn and teach others. While her husband was away preaching, Susanna adopted the practice of reading sermons from the library aloud to her family. Word of the weekly meetings held in her kitchen quickly spread, until over two hundred were gathering regularly, and the parsonage could hardly contain those who came to hear.   It was in such a setting that John, who would become a fervent preacher, and Charles, who would become a great hymnist, were raised.     

 Though her life was marked by a determined pursuit of God, it was also marked with hardship. Nine of the 19 children born to Samuel and Susanna Wesley died in infancy. Two different times their home was destroyed by fire, one time nearly taking John’s life. They also lived in severe poverty. Yet her determined faith was one she insisted on sharing, and perhaps for this reason there was not a greater force upon eighteenth-century England than her children.  

 Shortly before she died, Susanna had a long talk with John in which she described her greatest struggle in faith. For years, she admitted, she labored with doubt and confusion in regards to her salvation. She had scarcely ever heard, or so believed, that forgiveness of sins was something offered in the present. Yet, she described finding herself one day suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of peace in God’s love for her and forgiveness of everything else. In his journal John recounts her description of that moment.  “Said she, ‘[T]wo or three weeks ago, while my son Hall was pronouncing those words, in delivering the cup to me, ‘The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee,’ the words struck through my heart and I knew God for Christ’s sake had forgiven me all my sins.'”(2)

 Charles alludes to his mother’s experience with Christ in the last lines of the epitaph marking her grave. In the broken bread, the Father revealed his Son to Susanna Wesley: And she knew and felt her sins forgiven, and found the earnest of her heaven. In the cup of faith and broken bread, the love of God was unobscured, handed to her literally. The same gift of God’s assuring touch is something we can hold today.  

 Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

 (1) Letters of Susanna Wesley, June 8, 1725.
(2) The Journal of John Wesley, Ed. Percy Livingstone Parker, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1951).

Morning “Christ, who is our life.” / Colossians 3:4

Paul’s marvellously rich expression indicates, that Christ is the source of
our life. “You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.” That
same voice which brought Lazarus out of the tomb raised us to newness of life.
He is now the substance of our spiritual life. It is by his life that we live;
he is in us, the hope of glory, the spring of our actions, the central thought
which moves every other thought. Christ is the sustenance of our life. What
can the Christian feed upon but Jesus’ flesh and blood? “This is the bread
which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.” O
wayworn pilgrims in this wilderness of sin, you never get a morsel to satisfy
the hunger of your spirits, except ye find it in him! Christ is the solace of
our life. All our true joys come from him; and in times of trouble, his
presence is our consolation. There is nothing worth living for but him; and
his lovingkindness is better than life! Christ is the object of our life. As
speeds the ship towards the port, so hastes the believer towards the haven of
his Saviour’s bosom. As flies the arrow to its goal, so flies the Christian
towards the perfecting of his fellowship with Christ Jesus. As the soldier
fights for his captain, and is crowned in his captain’s victory, so the
believer contends for Christ, and gets his triumph out of the triumphs of his
Master. “For him to live is Christ.” Christ is the exemplar of our life. Where
there is the same life within, there will, there must be, to a great extent,
the same developments without; and if we live in near fellowship with the Lord
Jesus we shall grow like him. We shall set him before us as our Divine copy,
and we shall seek to tread in his footsteps, until he shall become the crown
of our life in glory. Oh! how safe, how honoured, how happy is the Christian,
since Christ is our life!

Evening “The Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins.” / Matthew 9:6

Behold one of the great Physician’s mightiest arts: he has power to forgive
sin! While here he lived below, before the ransom had been paid, before the
blood had been literally sprinkled on the mercy-seat, he had power to forgive
sin. Hath he not power to do it now that he hath died? What power must dwell
in him who to the utmost farthing has faithfully discharged the debts of his
people! He has boundless power now that he has finished transgression and made
an end of sin. If ye doubt it, see him rising from the dead! behold him in
ascending splendour raised to the right hand of God! Hear him pleading before
the eternal Father, pointing to his wounds, urging the merit of his sacred
passion! What power to forgive is here! “He hath ascended on high, and
received gifts for men.” “He is exalted on high to give repentance and
remission of sins.” The most crimson sins are removed by the crimson of his
blood. At this moment, dear reader, whatever thy sinfulness, Christ has power
to pardon, power to pardon thee, and millions such as thou art. A word will
speak it. He has nothing more to do to win thy pardon; all the atoning work is
done. He can, in answer to thy tears, forgive thy sins today, and make thee
know it. He can breathe into thy soul at this very moment a peace with God
which passeth all understanding, which shall spring from perfect remission of
thy manifold iniquities. Dost thou believe that? I trust thou believest it.
Mayst thou experience now the power of Jesus to forgive sin! Waste no time in
applying to the Physician of souls, but hasten to him with words like these:–

“Jesus! Master! hear my cry;

Save me, heal me with a word;

Fainting at thy feet I lie,

Thou my whisper’d plaint hast heard.”

The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.   Matthew 9:6

 Consider here the Great Physician’s mighty power: the power to forgive sin! While He lived here below, before the ransom had been paid, before the blood had been literally sprinkled on the mercy-seat, He had power to forgive sin. Has He no power to do it now that He has died? What power must dwell in Him who to the utmost penny has faithfully discharged the debts of His people! He has unlimited power now that He has finished transgression and made an end of sin. If you doubt it, see Him rising from the dead! Behold Him in ascending splendor, raised to the right hand of God! Hear Him pleading before the eternal Father, pointing to His wounds, declaring the merit of His sacred passion!

What power to forgive is here! He ascended on high, and He gave gifts to men. He is exalted on high to give repentance and forgiveness of sins. The most crimson sins are removed by the crimson of His blood. At this moment, dear reader, whatever your sinfulness, Christ has power to pardon, power to pardon you, and millions just like you. A word will speak it. He has nothing more to do to win your pardon; all the atoning work is done.

He can, in answer to your tears, forgive your sins today and make you know it. He can breathe into your soul at this very moment a peace with God that passes all understanding, which shall spring from perfect remission of your many iniquities. Do you believe that? I trust you believe it. May you even now experience the power of Jesus to forgive sin! Waste no time in applying to the Physician of souls; hasten to Him with words like these:

Jesus! Master! hear my cry;

Save me, heal me with a word;

Fainting at Thy feet I lie,

Thou my whisper’d plea has heard.

Family Reading Plan Jeremiah 38  Psalm 11