Repeating the Play

Repeating The Play 
Read: Rom. 5:1-5; Heb. 12: 7-12; 2 Tim. 2:3; 1 Cor. 9:24-27; Heb. 12:1-3  
 
Peyton Manning is no doubt among the best NFL quarterbacks in modern history. He became great through grueling workouts, intense film study, and long practice sessions. Just as our favorite athletes became strong, tough competitors through hard workouts, we become strong, tough competitors in this faith race through hard soul workouts known as suffering and trials. The trials we face are not meant to ruin us but to bring
us into spiritual maturity, to make us grow up in our faith. Just as we become more in physically fit by regular exercise, so we become spiritually in shape by allowing hardship to do its work in us. Hardship can refocus our priorities, humble us, drive us deep into His Word, and force us to depend on our Savior as nothing else can. It is possible, however, to endure great difficulty and never learn the lesson God intended. If our spirit is stubborn or unteachable we cannot receive the lesson. Just as a coach will require his players to repeat a play until they get it right, so our Lord will often do with us. Those with stubborn souls may find themselves “repeating the play” until the lesson is learned.  
 
Respond Is your heart teachable? How are your current struggles making you stronger in your relationship with God and in your personal character? Are you learning the lesson or will you be “repeating the play”? One way to evaluate is to count how often in a week you complain about your hardship to others vs. how often in a week you go to God in prayer for that situation.