The tests of life reveal how well you take instruction, what
you've learned, and what you'll do in any given set of circumstances. What
you've been taught is only theory, until it's been tested on real fire. Chuck
Swindoll tells the story of a bird named Chippy:
'Chippy the parakeet never saw it coming. One second he was peacefully perched in his cage singing, the next he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over. His problem began when his owner decided to clean his cage with a vacuum. She stuck the nozzle in to suck up the seeds and feathers at the bottom of the cage. Then the phone rang. Instinctively she turned to pick it up. She'd barely said 'hello' and then ‘sswwwwPPPPP!’ Chippy got sucked in.
The owner gasped, dropped the phone and snapped off the vacuum. She unzipped the bag and there was Chippy alive, but stunned; covered with heavy black dust. She grabbed Chippy and rushed to the bathtub, turned on the faucet full blast and held Chippy under a torrent of ice-cold water, power-washing him clean. Then she did what any compassionate pet owner would do: she snatched up the hairdryer and blasted the wet, shivering little bird with hot air.' Swindoll closes his story with these words: 'Chippy doesn't sing much anymore.' Life will test you, but don't let the struggles steal your song of life.
John16:33
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
'Chippy the parakeet never saw it coming. One second he was peacefully perched in his cage singing, the next he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over. His problem began when his owner decided to clean his cage with a vacuum. She stuck the nozzle in to suck up the seeds and feathers at the bottom of the cage. Then the phone rang. Instinctively she turned to pick it up. She'd barely said 'hello' and then ‘sswwwwPPPPP!’ Chippy got sucked in.
The owner gasped, dropped the phone and snapped off the vacuum. She unzipped the bag and there was Chippy alive, but stunned; covered with heavy black dust. She grabbed Chippy and rushed to the bathtub, turned on the faucet full blast and held Chippy under a torrent of ice-cold water, power-washing him clean. Then she did what any compassionate pet owner would do: she snatched up the hairdryer and blasted the wet, shivering little bird with hot air.' Swindoll closes his story with these words: 'Chippy doesn't sing much anymore.' Life will test you, but don't let the struggles steal your song of life.
John16:33
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
Romans 8:28-29 King James Version (KJV)
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many
brethren.
1 John 3:2 New International Version (NIV)
2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be
has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, [a] we shall
be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
Life
will test us. When we become a
Christian, life doesn’t become easy. It
becomes filled with purpose. As we allow
the Holy Spirit to work in us, transforming us to become like Jesus Christ, we
are able to experience God’s peace even in the midst of trials.
Are
you living in a cage, singing happily – life is good? Or are you experiencing being sucked in,
washed up, and blown over?
What
we’ve been taught really shows up in our life when trials come. It’s theory until you are tested and what you
have put in, will come out in the trials of life. How well do we cope when tested?
Acts 2:42 - They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching
and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Reading
the Bible, being in fellowship (church), breaking the bread (communion) and
prayer – important practices we need to do regularly to grow and mature – to
grow up in Christ.
When
life tests us, how do we respond? Do we practice
what the Bible says, do we turn to God in his Word and in prayer, do we seek
breaking of bread (communion), do we continue in fellowship (going to church?)
OR do we quickly fall away in the trials and busyness of life? Do we phone our friends, even if they are
well meaning to find the answers we wish to hear? Or do we turn to God and His word and prayer?
Do
we trust as Job did (Job 19:25 (Msg) – “Still, I know
that God lives—the One who gives me back my life— and eventually he’ll take his stand on
earth”.) or do we trust
people to give us their opinion? Do we rely on ourselves, or do we stand in
faith (Heb 11:1) depending on God?
Hebrews
11:1 (Msg) “The fundamental fact of existence is
that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything
that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see.”
Don’t
lose your song in the trials of life as Chippy did after his trial with the
vacuum cleaner – instead sing to your Savior and trust Him to bring you
through. Continue reading Scripture,
continue attending Church, continue with regular Communion and continue to
pray.
Be
encouraged – God is with us, His children, even though the trials just as He is
when we are experiencing the ‘good’ times!
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