First Christian Church of Plainville

Hard times. Isn’t everyone ready to move past the last year and look forward to better times?  Sure, we are ready for that, but is that God’s plan? Christians should know that difficult times will always be a part of our lives, but we also know there is a purpose.

Gary Peters’ message on Sunday was from a well-known passage from Ecclesiastes 3. Verse 1 of this chapter tells us, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” The chapter goes on to give examples of “everything” or “every activity.”  Besides the good, we are told that we must expect the bad as well.

Other verses of Ecclesiastes tell us there is a time to be born and a time to die. We are told there is a time to weep and a time to laugh. And we are told there is a time to mourn and a time to dance. These verses, along with 11 others, give examples of what we should expect from our life here on earth. Each verse gives us both the good and the bad.
It is in the bad times that there is opportunity for Christians to plant the seeds of our beliefs. When the Bible says “the harvest is plentiful” it is telling us there are multitudes of people waiting to hear our words of hope. There is no better time to sew the seeds of God’s love and saving grace than when times are bad. We can be the light in a very dark world.

God also uses suffering to make us stronger. We are to use our experience in suffering to help others who are going through the same trials. There is no expert better to help someone overcome a tragedy or trial in their lives than someone who has already endured that same experience. We can use the crisis to bring others to Christ.

Understand that we are not going to have all of the answers. We can only read and study God’s Word and convey that knowledge and our personal experience to those in need. Use the crisis, and trust God to accomplish His purpose.