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Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. (1 Peter 4:12 nlt)
When I was a boy, I was a bit of a pyromaniac. I liked to set things on fire, especially those little green army men made of plastic.
One day I was home alone, busy lighting those plastic army men on fire. I was doing all this on top of a newspaper, which caught fire. Then I threw everything into a bamboo wastebasket, which also caught fire. Thankfully I was able to get it under control.
Interestingly, the Bible uses the term “fiery trial” to describe certain hardships that come into the lives of Christians. We read in 1 Peter, “Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering” (4:12–13 nlt).
Maybe you’re going through a fiery trial right now. God allows different kinds of trials in our lives. He tests us to develop our faith. The Devil, on the other hand, tempts us to destroy your faith.
I bring this up because sometimes people will have something bad happen in their lives and then say, “You know what? I just lost my faith.”
Good. Get rid of that faith, because a faith that can’t be tested is a faith that can’t be trusted. Real faith in a real God doesn’t grow weaker through difficulty; it only gets stronger. That is the kind of faith we need.
There are times in our lives when our faith will be tested. We’ll be tempted to do the wrong thing. And we might wonder whether we’ll have the strength to stand spiritually when that day comes.
That’s entirely up to you. It will come down to the choices you make.
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