Real Life

With Pastor Steve

February 14, 2025

 

Why is this trial… these hard times… this persecution… happening to me?  ~ Common question when life comes off the rails.

  Most of us at one time or another have asked something like that haven’t we?  Somehow, we expect life to go smoothly.  Particularly if we’ve been doing good… honoring God… staying out of trouble… trying to change.

  However, that turns life into some sort of a formula.  And because this world is broken, it is fallen… formulas just do not work.   When we see life through a formula, it takes away the pure joy of living a changed life… of honoring God simply because it’s the right thing to do… of loving your family, etc.  But when we live from a deeper purpose… if we are not waiting for the “payoff,” we can endure hardships, persecution.  We can even find joy in the midst of it. 

  That’s what the early church discovered as the first major wave of persecution happened at the hands of Saul of Tarsus.  They had to leave their comfort zones, many were imprisoned, some killed.  But they never lost their joy… and where they went… joy followed.  Other people’s lives were changed.  So the question is not “why are these things happening to me?” Because we all go through stuff.  The question is… “how can I live joyful and spread real joy to others in the midst of this.” And that’s … real life. ~ Pastor Steve Rowe – Eaglebrook Church

               

Eaglebrook Church

Your “Brook” church in the Northwoods  EaglebrookMinocqua.org

Sundays 10:00 a.m. @ 1025 Margaret Street in Woodruff