CLIMBING BUMPS

The Upward Look, by Jon Forrest
Climbing Bumps

A little boy was leading his sister up a mountain path but the trail was difficult. "This isn't a path at all," the little girl complained. "It’s all rocky and bumpy." Her little brother kept on up the mountain, pausing just long enough to call out "Sure, but the bumps are what you climb on."

Some people have been led to believe that if they became followers of Christ all of their troubles and problems would end. However, for many people, becoming a Christian is the beginning of a whole new set of difficulties. Our old way of doing things tends to oppress the new. The old way came naturally. The new way is anything but, natural to us. The adjustments require surrender to Christ and submission isn’t easy. Our old friends strive to drag us back into the old world of sin. They may even make fun of us or even ridicule us for the change in our lives.

Paul warned us about the struggles that come in Romans 5:1-5…
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 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.

The sufferings we endure are the bumps upon which we climb. With each bump we grow in our faith and strength. Each bump builds our perseverance into character. When we finally get to the top, our hope in Christ is so strengthened that it will never be shaken.

So, when you hit a bump, step on it and keep climbing the mountain of God.

Climbing with you,
Jon