Silent Time

Is suffering good or bad?

Pains are never pleasant; still it is to be distinguished: e.g. pains from exercise might help to build up a muscle.

There are many different kinds of temptations – each person gets attacked in one’s weak areas.

Which efforts in life are useless and in vain?

Which efforts in life are useful and worth the pain?

Evil often comes in not so obviously; matters are turned around, people get confused, so that it appears as if good is bad and vice versa. Let’s pray for clarity, so that God may give us wisdom in all big and small decisions considering that in the background the permanent war is going on in the spiritual world between good and bad.

What does “the Father’s only begotten Son” have to do with your life nowadays?

“The word became a human being” – what do you think about that statement? It sounds like a strange combination of words. But St. John explains and points well towards the saviour Jesus Christ.

Judge justly – or even better: do not judge others at all. Better to show mercy to others and to offer them new beginnings if someone has done wrong, because with the same measure we judge others, we will be judged as well.

Who can expect good things to happen in the long term future?

Who is really sovereign?

Since God has all power and is at the same time merciful, does it not mean that we should be free of trouble? Far from that. God does not promise a trouble-free life. In fact the word of God prepares the believers for difficult times, e.g. in the Psalms in the prayer “you let people ride over our heads, we go through fire and through water, yet you will bring us out into a safe place”.