Cross thoughts: Christian ideas seen in Sudanese every day life.
If you visit a manufacturing factory you will see how various raw materials are worked on to become a finished consumer product.
Water, sugar, cola pods, steel, glass become a capped bottle of coca-cola
Kenana canes, beaten, heated and refined become sugar for a cup of tea
Microchips, switches, pressed plastic panels, etc. become TVs or computers
Leaves, seeds and fruit, boiled, dried and pressed become medication
All the items for sale in these shops (pictured) have been processed one way or another
The owner or manager of the factory chooses suitable raw materials and a good location. He hires a qualified workforce and sets his business to work. Everything he does is governed by the end result – a quality, saleable product.
When God chooses people to be His own, He knows what He plans to make out of them. The processes He uses may be tough, but each one of them is necessary:
Fiery situations will refine us
Trying circumstances will strengthen us
Washing will cleanse and purify us
Hammerings will shape us
Hurts will sensitise us
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything”, James 1:2-4.
God is at work in us, simply making us what He wants us to be!
See also Hebrews 12:1-13.
August 2010.