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Rejoice, Be Patient, Be Constant

Edmund Vance Cooke once published around 100 years ago some of the saddest, fatalistic lines of poetry you’ll ever hear. He wrote,

This life’s a hollow bubble,
Just a painted piece of trouble,
We come to earth to cry,
We grow older and we sigh,
Older still, and then we die!

What a hopeless piece of work! Job in the Old Testament voiced a similar sentiment, “Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble.” When you face difficulties in this life, are you tempted to think in these somber and fruitless ways?

Apostle Paul in Romans 12 has a better way. He gives us a three-fold plan for when we face difficulties. He says there in v12, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” There’s that three-fold plan.

First, rejoice in hope. No matter your situation, if you are a Christian, you have hope because you have Jesus Christ. Second, be patient in tribulation. I know we don’t like to wait, but our patience is an act of trust in the Lord as we endure whatever hardship we face. And third, be constant in prayer. Don’t try to rejoice and be patient by your own strength. Call on God’s strength to endure with joy.

And in following this three-fold plan, you will experience the full goodness of God in your moment of sorrow.

Change begins in you!

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