Trials Produce Testimony

This is a follow-up to yesterday’s post on testimony.

Testimony helps us survive trials, a point that was probably made in a million homes last week reading the parable of the sowers about the plants on stony ground that withered in the heat of the day, and very right too.

Less well known is that the relationship between trials and testimony flows both ways.  Trials often create testimony.

Yes, we turn to God more in times of difficulty.  Yes, the help God gives us in trials can often help us believe in him more.  None of those are what I mean.

It is just the way people are made that suffering and sacrificing for a belief is what allows that belief to become truly part of our identity.  You can’t mentally will yourself to value something.  You  have to put in the time and effort.   Holding fast to your beliefs in trouble and trial is a shortcut to making them part of your core.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.