True Virtue: Oppressed and Beautiful

By Elizabeth Prata

The monthly letter to subscribers of Grace To You (Grace Partners) by John MacArthur is so incisive, convicting, and pertinent, I thought I’d share it here:

“One of the unhealthy effects of living in a prolonged era of relative comfort, convenience, and acceptance is that it curbs our appetite for heaven. When the sailing is smooth, heaven loses some of its luster. People who are satisfied by temporal things and content with the here and now don’t find the glories of heaven very compelling.”

“While we are right to preach against the prosperity gospel and the ‘your best life now’ philosophy of Joel Osteen and others like him, believers sometimes slip into a similar mindset that views political, social, and economic stability as rights guaranteed by God, expecting nothing less than heaven on earth.”

“But by His grace, God is using these unprecedented circumstances to correct and sanctify people’s thinking. As the moral decline of our culture accelerates, political foundations crumble, the fleeting nature of material wealth becomes more apparent, and cultural and social pressures against true Christianity mount, the world is losing its allure and heaven is becoming more and more appealing.”

“If the trials of the past year accomplish nothing else in believers except to redirect our affections and hopes toward the eternal home God is preparing for us—and preparing us for—we should consider them a profound blessing.” —John MacArthur