Suffering Is for the Growth of Faith
A twenty-six-year-old woman held hostage by IS was killed after eighteen months in captivity. Threatened to make her convert to Islam, she held fast to her faith to the end, and it was while caring for the girls imprisoned alongside her that she departed this world.
Though the earthly tent in which we live is torn down, there is an eternal house in heaven, built by God. However great the body’s suffering, it gives no reason to give up the eternal Kingdom; rather, it becomes an occasion for sins to be forgiven and for faith to grow. On the last day, when believers stand before Christ, what kind of faith they lived by while still in the flesh will be brought to light.
It is now, while still clothed in this tent, that heaven or hell is decided. Poverty and painful circumstances are no excuse for failing to stand firm in faith; the faithful must not give their hearts to a world that will pass away, but must lean on God, who gives eternal life. God, who sees that devotion, will certainly grant a time of peace.