If we turn quickly to anger in the midst of our trials, if we fail to listen attentively to God’s voice, if we become distracted by other voices around us, or if we simply choose to ignore His voice, will destroy our intimacy with Him and undermine our journey toward maturity. On the other hand, when we listen attentively, and say “yes” to all that He has for us, our lives will be blessed. Our circumstances won’t necessarily turn out pleasant all of the time, but our lives will fulfill God’s purposes for us and bring pleasure to His heart.

When life gets hard, we are often tempted to doubt God’s goodness, or even to blame Him for the consequences of our own sinful choices. But sin comes from within our own hearts. So James urges us to resist sin’s lies, and instead to trust in the goodness of God. God never leads us toward evil and death, but instead He sent His Son to save us from our sins and to lead us into life. God is always good, and always generous, and James calls us to remember this fundamental truth at all times and especially when life gets hard.

It has been observed that suffering will either make us better or bitter. The outcome depends entirely on our response. We can’t control when trials come, how frequently they will appear in our lives, or how intense they will be. But we can choose our response. When we embrace the truth that God is able to use our sufferings to deepen and mature our faith, and when we seek His guidance through our pain with an undivided heart, He transforms us. He causes our faith to reflect the character of His Son, Jesus, who embraced much greater suffering so that we could have eternal life.

Today we are studying 2 Timothy 1, which explains the Christian’s goal of sharing the gospel.

By looking at the invitation that Jesus gives his disciples, we can clearly see that the call on our lives has two parts to it. First, we are called to be a disciple of Jesus and Second, to make disciples of Jesus.

The Scripture is a treasure, more valuable than any earthly treasure we could hope for. All too often we do not make use of it - it sits in our homes unread. How can we overcome the barriers that keep us from reading God's Word and make it a habit for the coming year?

Nothing is as it should be in this world. But the present struggles will come to an end. The final chapters of our Bible describe a perfect ending, which actually reflects the perfect beginning of the rest of our lives. God will bring heaven to earth and we will experience perfect relationships in perfected bodies in a perfect place with satisfying labor in the very presence of our Creator and Redeemer. There will be no more sorrow, or fear, or temptation, or death, but only the fullness of God’s intended blessing. The best is yet to come!

The world as it now exists is not all that God has planned for us. The best is yet to come! When Jesus returns to the earth, He will fulfill all of God’s promises and defeat all of God’s enemies. In fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel, including all of the blessings extended to the gentiles, Jesus will establish God’s kingdom on earth and reign with His people for 1,000 years. After this He will destroy Satan, judge all sin, abolish death forever, and make way for the arrival of the new heavens and the new earth.