Now I Rejoice
I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church . . . (Colossians 1:24) God uses challenging times to shape our character in ways only hardships can do. Every trial the Lord permits is an opportunity; a choice to lift our hands or hang our heads, to remember His goodness or remember our failures, to serve through it or shrink from it. Every delay we experience is the space God uses to purify our hearts, our hopes, and our dreams. Tough times are a set-up for our testimony and a platform for God's victory. So, rejoice children of God. Even through your difficulties, rejoice! It is natural to complain about our troubles, but Paul chose to see them as a privilege and as a testimony to the overcoming power of Christ. When he speaks of, "filling up in my flesh what is lacking ...," he is not saying that our Lord's sacrifice was in any way insufficie...