Tough Hide-Tender Heart

You’d think God would have spoiled Job a little after all that he had gone through. But on the contrary, He tells His suffering saint on two occasions, “Gird up now thy loins like a man.” God will not coddle us; He is in the business of making real men and women.

There is no room for self-pity in the presence of God’s crucified Lamb. Anyone can dish it out, so to speak, it’s how much we can take that counts with God. The Lord certainly wants us to have soft hearts, but not so with our hides. They’re to be leather-tough.

To use the excuse that our weak flesh cannot go on, will not cut it. The Spirit is willing; our problem is that we’re not. We are all going to suffer in this life, one way or the other. Peter tells us, “…it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.” The former brings reward, the latter regret.

In glory, God will not look at our medals, degrees, or diplomas, but for scars we received being true to His dear Son.