A Spectacle Of Glory #3

Read: 1 Peter 1:6-7

In “Rumpelstiltskin,” a children’s fairy tale, an old elf sat in a room alone, spinning straw on a spinning wheel and somehow turning it into heaps of shining gold. As Christians, we have that opportunity every day! Think of your earthly problems as a pile of straw on one side of the room, and heaven’s gold on the other. The spinning wheel is in the middle, and there you sit, making decisions every day about how you will work with your hardships.

When you complain or feel resentful and embittered, the pile of hay and stubble grows. But if you trust in the Lord and hold fast to His grace, then you are laying up for yourself treasure and reward in heaven. You are weaving common straw into priceless gold. As Paul puts it, our trials will “produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!”^a

How good of You, Father, to give us this—a way to turn our disappointments, sleepless nights, physical pain, and frustrating setbacks into opportunities for everlasting gain! Help me to remember these things when discouragement seeps into my soul. There are no throwaway moments in life; everything counts for eternal reward.