Guest Blogger Melanie Slaugh—The Missing Step: Character
The Missing Step: Character
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Romans 5:3-5 (NIV)
Ever feel like you have no hope? Like you’re empty and your life isn’t worth living? Like God has left you and there’s nothing you can do about it?
We’ve all felt like that at times, even though the Bible tells us repeatedly that He will never leave us or forsake us. But why do we still feel that way? Why do we lose our hope? What are we missing?
One thing we haven’t missed is suffering. We all suffer. Some suffering is for Christ, some is a result of our mistakes, and some is just a part of life. But all suffering produces one thing: perseverance. Keeping on, keeping on. We keep living, keep going, and keep existing despite our struggles. But it is the way in which we persist that makes the real difference. Let me ask you something: are you persisting with the right attitude?
There’s a right attitude to persistence? Well, yeah. There are three types of persistence.
- Surviving – This is the first type. This is what most people fall back on. They don’t do or think or work, they just survive through the troubles and hope they will change. This isn’t the way to build character. You’re not being active. You’re not doing anything. The Lord will let you stay like this until you get sick of it and try to move to the next stage.
- Fighting – This is stage two. You’re sick of doing nothing. So you decide to fight. Under your own power you fight against whatever or whoever is making you suffer. You get angry, you yell, you kick, you throw fits. It doesn’t do any good. The Lord will let you do this until you wear yourself out. Finally, you’ll move on to the last stage.
- Waiting –Different from surviving, waiting is active without anger. You are actively waiting on the Lord to change your circumstances. This is where character starts to be built. You’ve learned you can do nothing without Him, so you wait for Him to make the next move. And you’ll be ready.
So if you seem to be stuck in suffering, if you’re hopeless and frustrated and feel like the Lord isn’t keeping His promises, ask yourself one thing: do I have character?
Because there is a system. The Lord is a God of order, not chaos. He will not let anyone skip a step. If you do not learn what you need to in step one, He will keep you there until you are ready to move to step two.
He’s infinitely patient. He’ll keep waiting for you as long as it takes. The question is: how long are you willing to suffer?
Author Bio
Melanie Slaugh is enthusiastic about the growing prospects and opportunities of various industries and writing articles on various consumer goods and services as a freelance writer. She writes extensively for internet service providers and also topics related to internet providers in my area for presenting the consumers, the information they need to choose the right Internet package for them. She can be reached at slaugh.slaugh907 @ gmail.com.
