Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - Cold Nights and Rich Colors - #8113

Monday, October 6, 2008

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I love this time of the year with the temperatures and the apple cider and the colors. We were in the Northeast for a long time and we saw God show off in a fantastic display of changing colors. I used to tell our kids that the angels painted the trees over night. Surprising they believe anything I say. Well if your fall comes late though, it’s probably because there haven’t been enough of those cold nights. That’s when the temperature kills the chlorophyll that makes the leaves green and starts the colors coming. No cold nights, no rich colors.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and actually the way God changes leaves turns out to be a lot like the way He changes people. Some of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met are people who’ve been through a lot of cold nights.

Paul explained how this happens when he wrote about his pleading with God to take away his tormenting thorn—the kind of suffering that gives us those cold, painful nights of our lives. The Bible says, “He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness,’” and then goes on to relate how he now rejoices in his hard times because, “—when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ). At the end of himself, he experienced God’s power and grace at a level few do—power to really live a life that matters.

Cold nights can make you cold or beautiful. You’ve probably met people with a magnetic glow, an unshakable strength, a spiritual power. You know where that comes from? It comes from walking through deep valleys clinging to Jesus so tightly that you become like Him. Do that in your cold night.

There’s encouragement at our website, ALifeThatMatters.org, because God put you here to live a life that matters.

This radio program references: 2 Corinthians 12:9-10