The individual’s family, work, church, and social life are the contexts in which God desires each person to shine as they mature spiritually.
The difficult circumstances and troubling situations that they find themselves in are preordained and full of opportunity and purpose for increasing in wisdom and in glorifying God. Every day is either a crash course or an ongoing workshop in learning to live the Christian life. In this we see the Gospel’s explosive effect for it is the power (dynamos) of God operating and enabling us to grow even in harsh and hostile environments.
That baby that just will not sleep all night, an unfair boss, that fair-weather friend, represent just a few of the ‘teachers’ that God uses in our ongoing education of becoming more like Jesus. They are real and necessary faculty members in the School of Life.
Thankfully, there are also good and faithful ‘instructors’ who are altruistic, but let no one discount the value of what God is doing in their lives through the incompetent, selfish, and immature. Let no one despise the deprivation of sleep, the lack of recognition, and the nonexistent compliment. The Lord knows what He is doing to us, and it is for us: “He said to them, “Follow Me [as My disciples, accepting Me as your Master and Teacher and walking the same path of life that I walk], and I will make you…”
