Saturday – Open Topic

Reading – Ephesians 3

Highlight Verse:

“So please don’t lose heart because of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honored.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I wanted to highlight Paul’s suffering, reminding us of those who suffer for the Gospel even today. That’s important to remember but that’s not what stood out to me.

Then I thought I might write about the newfound equality between Jews and Gentiles. But something else stood out beyond that as well.

It was Paul’s attitude.

Here in America, we tend to whine and complain when things don’t go our way.

I’m not accusing anyone since I’m the same way.

I’m just aspiring to be like Paul.

He’s sitting in jail.

His freedom is restricted and the conditions are horrible.

So how does he react?

He considers it a privilege to suffer for Christ and a reason to rejoice.

And then he goes about writing letters that will impact the world for many generations.

Think about that.

What most people would think of as a hardship, Paul turns into an opportunity.

If not for his imprisonment, many of his letters would not have been written.

So, the next time you or I experience some hardship or pain, perhaps

we need to be looking for the opportunity that hardship affords us.

Have you ever been able to turn a hardship into an opportunity?
Do you have suggestions for how we can turn tough times into something God can use?