經文: 「等你們暫受苦難之後，必要親自成全你們，堅固你們，賜力量給你們。」

雨後放晴，偶而會看到一道彩虹，像一座七色的彩橋，橫跨天空，多麼美麗啊！但一會兒就消失了，藍天上再找不到它的踪影。怎麼會這樣呢？噢！原來那只不過是水滴與光線的幻影罷了，所以不能持久。
基督徒的善行美德，可不能像彩虹那樣喲！虛有其表卻無紮實的根基。我們一定要腳踏實地，做金銀寶石的工程，而非草木禾稭的表面工夫。我們的口碑信用，也要像刻在石版上的鋼字，那樣牢靠，而非沙灘上的足印，潮水一來就沖得無影無踪。願我做的一切，都是以愛為出發點，那麼我的一生就蒙上帝紀念。
讓我們看看在信心裡所建造的產業，是何等有根有基，如同保羅所說：「等你暫受苦難之後……。」若不經過狂風勁雨，我們就不知道根基穩不穩當；若不經過驚濤駭浪，我們就不知道船隻堅不堅固。所謂「疾風知勁草，板蕩識忠臣。」所以，別擔心懼怕，在苦難考驗當中，堅心相信凡事都有上帝的美意，為要造就我們。

Morning, July 11
Scripture: “After that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.”(1 Peter 5:10)

You have seen the arch of heaven as it spans the plain: glorious are its colours, and rare its hues. It is beautiful, but, alas, it passes away, and lo, it is not. The fair colours give way to the fleecy clouds, and the sky is no longer brilliant with the tints of heaven. It is not established. How can it be? A glorious show made up of transitory sun-beams and passing rain-drops, how can it abide? The graces of the Christian character must not resemble the rainbow in its transitory beauty, but, on the contrary, must be stablished, settled, abiding. Seek, O believer, that every good thing you have may be an abiding thing. May your character not be a writing upon the sand, but an inscription upon the rock! May your faith be no “baseless fabric of a vision,” but may it be builded of material able to endure that awful fire which shall consume the wood, hay, and stubble of the hypocrite. May you be rooted and grounded in love. May your convictions be deep, your love real, your desires earnest. May your whole life be so settled and established, that all the blasts of hell, and all the storms of earth shall never be able to remove you. But notice how this blessing of being “stablished in the faith” is gained. The apostle's words point us to suffering as the means employed—“After that ye have suffered awhile.” It is of no use to hope that we shall be well rooted if no rough winds pass over us. Those old gnarlings on the root of the oak tree, and those strange twistings of the branches, all tell of the many storms that have swept over it, and they are also indicators of the depth into which the roots have forced their way. So the Christian is made strong, and firmly rooted by all the trials and storms of life. Shrink not then from the tempestuous winds of trial, but take comfort, believing that by their rough discipline God is fulfilling this benediction to you.