Human character must have a plus attached to it. The world does not forget great characters. But great
characters are not made of luxuries, they are made by suffering.
"Perfect through
suffering" (Heb. 2:10).
A story is told of a mother who brought into her home as a companion to her own son, a crippled boy who was also a hunchback. She had warned her boy to be very careful in his relations to him, and not to touch the sensitive part of his
life but go right on playing with him as if he were an ordinary boy. She listened to her son as they were playing; and after a few minutes he said to his companion: "Do you know what you have got on your back?" The little hunchback was
embarrassed, and he hesitated a moment. The boy said: "It is the box in
which your wings are; and some day God is going to cut it open, and then you will fly away like an angel."
Cortland Myers once said that "some day, God is going to reveal the fact to every Christian, that the very principles they now rebel against, have been the instruments which He used in perfecting their characters and moulding them into perfection, polished stones for His great building yonder.
But who likes suffering? I don't. Yet still it is said that suffering is a wonderful fertilizer to the roots of character. The great object of this life is character. This is the only thing we can
carry with us into
eternity... To gain the most of it and the best of it is the object of probation. And you must know how God has really been patient. He has allowed us sufficient time to grow; for character must be developed step by step like in Peter's ladder of faith (2 Pet. 1:5-11).
Now, patience must not always mean persevering. It could also mean continuance in one definite course. But even though it is proven and tested that patience grows best under trial. No wonder, they call it "long-suffering". By the thorn road and no other is the mount of vision won.
Even roses have thorns, nature knows that. But do we remember this on February the 14th? Without saying it we tell our loved ones, "Please bear with my little hunchback, at times I'll be a thorn in the roses." At this point it is worth noting that our God is not interested in thorns. Remember these came as a curse (Gen. 3:18). Is it a striking surprise that roses were never meant to be in a perfect world? (Gen. 1:31). He'd rather we be lillies. Soft and tender. As a matter of fact, thorny roses still prick.
He wants us perfect. Let us grow unto perfection. He wants to remove the plus in your character. When God shall cut open your little 'hunchbox', what shall be found therein?
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