In a survey carried out in the USA, pollster George Barna reported that two out of three Americans call themselves \u2018casual Christians\u2019. It\u2019s an interesting term that, in essence, means uncommitted\u2026 hit-and-miss\u2026 when I feel like it.<\/i> <\/p>\n
But here\u2019s how Paul describes the Christian life: \u2018We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.\u2019<\/i> (2 Corinthians 4:7 NKJV) Note the word \u2018treasure\u2019.<\/i> Paul treasured<\/i> what God had put within him; he protected it, rejoiced over it, and maximised it. Does that mean the Christian life will be easy or trouble free? No, Paul continues: \u2018Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing\u2026 the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.\u2019<\/i> (2 Corinthians 4:16\u201318 NKJV) <\/p>\n
Notice that \u2018our\u2026 affliction\u2026 is working for us\u2019.<\/i> God uses life\u2019s experiences\u2014good and bad\u2014to enrich, sharpen, deepen and stabilise us. Here\u2019s another important truth: what we believe<\/i> and speak<\/i> during difficult times determines the quality of our spiritual life and future. \u2018Since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, \u201cI believed and therefore I spoke,\u201d we also believe and therefore speak.\u2019<\/i> (2 Corinthians 4:13 NKJV) <\/p>\n
So instead of seeing your situation as working against you, stand up in faith today and declare: \u2018This is working for<\/i> me!\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a survey carried out in the USA, pollster George Barna reported that two out of three Americans call themselves \u2018casual Christians\u2019. It\u2019s an interesting term that, in essence, means uncommitted\u2026 hit-and-miss\u2026 when I feel like it. But here\u2019s how Paul describes the Christian life: \u2018We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1380"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1380\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}