To peace along the path of agony

SUMMARY: The Bible characters' mixture of weakness and strength reminds the author of their own spiritual journey. They have struggled with sinful tendencies but have a deep passion to serve and please the Lord. The author acknowledges the reality of good and evil coexisting within us and cites Paul's recognition of the internal struggle that divides him. The author acknowledges that victories gained during the spiritual journey have been costly and long-term but have left in their being a sediment of humility, patience, and mercy towards others that have been useful in their career as a pastor and counselor of souls. The author identifies with the struggles, agonies, and victories of the farmer, the athletic runner, and the soldier and acknowledges that no discipline seems to be a cause of joy but yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

One of the attributes that I appreciate most in many of the characters in the Bible is that mixture of weakness and strength that is discernible in their personality, the dark and bright areas that fight incessantly within them , and that remind me of the vicissitudes and zigzags of my own spiritual experience.

Through the years I too have struggled with the persistent and contradictory urges of my personality. On many occasions, like Paul, I have asked the Lord multiple times to free me from some secret thorn, and again and again I have had to settle for his firm but paternal advice: “My grace is sufficient for you; because my power is perfected in weakness ”.

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