A Moment With Pastor Fred
2/15/19
AW Tozer was a pastor, author and magazine editor for many years in the mid-20th Century. I recently came across one of his quotes. It ministered to my soul. “When I understand that everything happening to me is to make me more Christlike, it resolves a great deal of anxiety.”
This just isn’t the wisdom from Tozer. This truth is rooted in the Bible. Ephesians 1:11 God is working “all things according to the counsel of his will.” Romans 8:28 is no doubt many of our favorite texts. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” And don’t forget Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
It doesn’t mean everything we encounter in life will be easy. It doesn’t mean pain or suffering won’t be involved. God never promises us that. But he does guarantee that whatever we are experiencing right now, will be used by him in his ultimate plan for our eternal good – to make us more like Christ. Romans 8:29 – he’s transforming us into the image of Christ. God is wanting to reproduce in us the character of Christ – and he uses hardship and sufferings to do just that. Warren Wierbse, another pastor and author has written, “God keeps his hand on the clock and the thermostat whenever we encounter the furnaces of life.” Let us trust him. Rest in him dear friends and in the wonderful promises he makes to us.