Ac27

Hardships are often the means that God uses to bring us to Himself. Don't see hardship as God's punishment, but rather as an opportunity to draw closer to Him.

In every situation the apostle Paul was seeking to honor Jesus. Whether he was in prison writing to the churches, or before judges and authorities seeking to win them to Christ, he was looking for the opportunity to advance the gospel. He knew his life was not his own, but God's. Even shipwrecks were God's opportunities.

We often see difficulty as God's punishment. It is not. If difficulty meant that we were not following Jesus then the apostle Paul was a horribly disobedient disciple. No one had more hardship than him! It was through difficulty that God accomplished His greatest work in and through Paul.

Don't misinterpret hardships today.