What makes shiny apple look so delicious? Why, the skin, of course. But what is it about an apple that is so delicious? It’s the juice and substance inside. That’s the apple’s real “character.” I learned this as a boy watching my mom make applesauce. She used a funny-looking kitchen utensil called colander. With a wooden pestle, she would mash and squeeze the soft, boiled piece of apple through the perforated metal cone until all that remained were the drab, flattened skins. But oh, the sauce tasted so good!
That’s how God, using life’s pressures, brings out the sweetness of Christlike character in our lives. Early in our Christian experience, we don’t really see the awful potential of our sin nature. Then we begin to have some tribulation. (In Greek the word means “pressure.”) Our sin nature is seen for what it is – ugly and tasteless. Under pressure, all kinds of sins, begin to surface – greed, selfishness, lust, pride – you name it! Pressure, you see, whether from without or from an unrealistic perfectionism within, is a fact of our fallen world. God controls its intensity and duration so that we can recognize, confess, and renounce those fleshly “skins” that obscure Christ’s character in us. Pressure, then, becomes the ally of the Holy Spirit.
Father while we do not seek tribulation, we glory in it. Because Your Spirit uses it to create in us perseverance, character, and hope. – Dennis J. De Haan
All God’s testings have a purpose –
Someday you will see the light;
All He asks is that you trust Him,
Walk by faith and not by sight. – Zoller
God’s purpose is not to make us comfortable but conformable – conformable to Christ.
- June 26, 1986, Our Daily Bread
For You 