In
signing a book for a teenage boy, I wrote, “Trust Jesus—He’ll never let you
down.” I hope he didn’t understand me to mean, “Your life will always go as you
want it to.” I meant that even when life doesn’t go your way, Jesus remains
faithful and works in your best interests. Life will bring countless
disappointments, but that’s very different than God letting you down. “God is
faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ
our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9).
If
we keep before ourselves the big picture, we’ll say with Paul in Romans 8, “If
God is for us, who can be against us?” And we will proclaim, nothing “will be
able to separate us from the love of Christ” (verses 31, 39).
God
uses disappointments and suffering to train us to share His holiness and
righteousness. Not all discipline is designed to correct sin. Its purpose may
be to cultivate righteousness. An athlete doesn’t train just to fix a problem;
he trains to improve his condition.
