“If you suffer for doing good and you endure it.” 1 Peter 2:20 NIV

Are you in “the school of hard knocks” today? Are you wondering, “Why am I going through this?” Because God is more interested in your character than your comfort! Patsy Clairmont wrote, “Jason, our youngest, has two goals in life. One is to have fun, and the other is to rest. And he does both quite well. So I shouldn’t have been surprised by what happened when I sent him to school one fall day. As Jason headed off for the bus, I busied myself, preparing for a full day. The knock on the door was a surprise and disruptive to my morning rhythm, which is not something I have a lot of. I flew to the door, jerked it open, only to find myself looking at Jason. ‘What are you doing here?’ I demanded. ‘I’ve quit school,’ he announced. ‘Quit school?’ I repeated in disbelief, at a decibel level too high for human ears. Swallowing once, I tried to remember some motherly psychology. But all that came to my mind was ‘A stitch in time saves nine’ and ‘Starve a fever, feed a cold’…Somehow, they didn’t seem to apply to a six-year-old drop-out dilemma. So I questioned, ‘Why have you quit school?’ Without hesitation he proclaimed, ‘It’s too long, it’s too hard, and it’s too boring!’ ‘Jason,’ I instantly retorted, ‘you’ve just described life. Get on the bus!’” The Bible says, “If you suffer for doing good and…endure it…this is commendable before God.” So when you find yourself in “the school of hard knocks,” rejoice – God is training you for bigger and better things! So, get on the bus!

The Word for You Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from Celebration Enterprises, Inc. Copyright © 2024