Persevere in God's Love
"Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy
of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life." -
Jude 1:21
Thomas Carlyle's greatest work was undoubtedly his two
volumes on the French Revolution. The work is a masterpiece.
In 1835, Carlyle loaned, in the original manuscript form,
the second volume of his French Revolution to his friend
John Stuart Mill to read and to criticize. Mill, in turn,
loaned it to another friend to read. This friend
thoughtlessly left the precious manuscript on a table where
a servant, cleaning the room, threw it into the fireplace.
Carlyle was hurled into despair when he learned that all his
hard labor had vanished into smoke and ashes. For days he
sat in his room in London in incarnate gloom unwilling to
see or talk with anyone. He seemed incapable of any further
literary effort.
But one day, from his pessimistic slump, he looked across
the acres of London roofs. There he saw a mason building a
wall with painful patience, laying brick upon brick.
Carlyle's father was a mason and what astonished Carlyle was
that in all this slow monotonous work the mason was singing
as happy as a lark. Here was a man happy and persistent in
humdrum work that brought no public applause. The man's
perseverance gave Carlyle a new perspective and he rewrote
the destroyed volume and had it published two years later.
Don't let life's setbacks deter you from remaining in God's
love. Today in prayer, give any disappointments and setbacks
to Jesus and seek to remain in His love.
"It is only by focusing on Christ that we will be able to
survive in this life and overcome the pain and problems of
life. If you haven't put your focus on Christ then do so
beginning right now." - Steve Shepherd
God's Word: "It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and
worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and
godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the
blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and
Savior, Jesus Christ" - Titus 2:12-13
By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2004, Devotional E-Mail
DEVOTIONS IN TITUS, JUDE, PHILEMON
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