Suffering for Christ
"I want to know Christ and . . . the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death" (Philippians 3:10).
How can we be like Christ without sharing in His suffering? No matter what, suffering is coming. Sources of suffering and pain are everywhere for a sincere follower of Christ. Lately it seems like my life has definitely been full of trials and pain. When I first became a follower of Christ, I knew these days would come in the future. When I accepted to do His will for my life, I knew that it was not going to be an easy task for me what so ever. Now it seems like I'm in that season where He is testing me and seeing how much I love Him and how much I am willing to suffer for Him.
My pain is magnified by the consequences of sin, loneliness and isolation from others, puzzling and confusing circumstances, uncertainty caused by change, stress in trying circumstances, the pain of being misunderstood, the ache of desires being denied, sickness, resistance from others at God's call, persecution of a variety of types and from a variety of sources, unrealized expectations and the pain of falling short of God's call, the sting of divine discipline, loss of reputation and being considered a "fool" in the eyes of the world.
My job is one area where I am suffering for Him. If it wasn't His will for me to be in this position and if He wasn't there for me every step of the way to strengthen me through it, I would have already turned in my keys. Most days are good but today I just wanted to scream and kick something. This job is very demanding physically and emotionally. I can't even explain the craziness of this job and the circumstances. The most awesome part about it though is that even though this job is something else, I still have peace which passes all understanding and joy unspeakable and that is what keeps me alive and keeps me fighting daily for the Lord. I am in a place where I am nothing and can doing nothing without Him and I am slowly, but surely, giving all of my life over to my Reedemer. He is the only light that will lead me out of my darkness.
The last couple of weeks, people from work have been starting to ridicule me. In Matthew 5:11-12, Jesus said, "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before me." Jesus said they will "revile you" meaning reproach, revile, heap insults upon you, upbraid them in violent language, will call you evil and contemptuous names, ridicule you because you are Christians. The enemies will try to capitalize on hostility toward you and use verbal abuse, reproaching, insulting language. However, believers are to live above reproach so they never rightly deserve this kind of abuse as a form of punishment.
It is ridiculous what they say about and to me. One of the assistants that I have to work with is the main person most of the comments are coming from, at least to my face that is. What's crazy is that I still love her in the midst of things and I feel she genuinely cares about me too. I think she is just seriously trying to test me to see if I'm all that I say I am and believe what I say I believe. No matter what they say to me though, I know who I truly am in Christ and that is what strengthens me to not be harmed by their words. Although the world may see me as a faulted, dull rock, God sees me as a precious, costly, brilliant, beautiful, flawless diamond. "He hath made every thing beautiful in his time..."(Ecclesiastes 3:11).
Jesus cares about the intimate details of our life. If He notices even a sparrow falling to the ground, how much more does he care about our problems? Jesus will help us with all emotional issues.
We live in a culture that glorifies comfort. Easy is better. But when it comes down to real growth or real change, easy is not better. A life with little or no pain will never allow me to be the deep, faithful, absolutely loyal soldier of Christ and son of God that I want to be. Sacrifice hurts, yet Christian love demands it. Denial of self is uncomfortable, and yet Christ has commanded us to do that daily. We as humans need to be stretched to change and grow.
God uses our suffering and pain for good. Discipline is painful. "Endure hardship as discipline. God is treating you as children. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it" (Hebrews 12:11).
Difficulty in life leads to toughness in character and rugged endurance, while ease and comfort often produce weakness. "Consider it pure joy... when you face trials of many kinds, because ... the testing of your faith develops perseverance" (James 1:2-3). "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9).
There is nothing more precious to God than our faith, and nothing reveals the true nature of faith better than adversity. When we cling to Him in pain and difficulty, we exhibit what He prizes. "[Trials] have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed" (1 Peter 1:7).
With Jesus there is Eternal Joy. It is a serene and untouchable self-contained joy that is beyond the chances, changes and circumstances in life. Being a Christian does not make life any easier. In fact, sometimes it gets harder. Jesus never promised an easy life for his followers. What he did promise was peace, internal satisfaction, and rest.
Psalm 9:9-10 "The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you."
Psalm 34:18 "The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."
How can we be like Christ without sharing in His suffering? No matter what, suffering is coming. Sources of suffering and pain are everywhere for a sincere follower of Christ. Lately it seems like my life has definitely been full of trials and pain. When I first became a follower of Christ, I knew these days would come in the future. When I accepted to do His will for my life, I knew that it was not going to be an easy task for me what so ever. Now it seems like I'm in that season where He is testing me and seeing how much I love Him and how much I am willing to suffer for Him.
My pain is magnified by the consequences of sin, loneliness and isolation from others, puzzling and confusing circumstances, uncertainty caused by change, stress in trying circumstances, the pain of being misunderstood, the ache of desires being denied, sickness, resistance from others at God's call, persecution of a variety of types and from a variety of sources, unrealized expectations and the pain of falling short of God's call, the sting of divine discipline, loss of reputation and being considered a "fool" in the eyes of the world.
My job is one area where I am suffering for Him. If it wasn't His will for me to be in this position and if He wasn't there for me every step of the way to strengthen me through it, I would have already turned in my keys. Most days are good but today I just wanted to scream and kick something. This job is very demanding physically and emotionally. I can't even explain the craziness of this job and the circumstances. The most awesome part about it though is that even though this job is something else, I still have peace which passes all understanding and joy unspeakable and that is what keeps me alive and keeps me fighting daily for the Lord. I am in a place where I am nothing and can doing nothing without Him and I am slowly, but surely, giving all of my life over to my Reedemer. He is the only light that will lead me out of my darkness.
The last couple of weeks, people from work have been starting to ridicule me. In Matthew 5:11-12, Jesus said, "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before me." Jesus said they will "revile you" meaning reproach, revile, heap insults upon you, upbraid them in violent language, will call you evil and contemptuous names, ridicule you because you are Christians. The enemies will try to capitalize on hostility toward you and use verbal abuse, reproaching, insulting language. However, believers are to live above reproach so they never rightly deserve this kind of abuse as a form of punishment.
It is ridiculous what they say about and to me. One of the assistants that I have to work with is the main person most of the comments are coming from, at least to my face that is. What's crazy is that I still love her in the midst of things and I feel she genuinely cares about me too. I think she is just seriously trying to test me to see if I'm all that I say I am and believe what I say I believe. No matter what they say to me though, I know who I truly am in Christ and that is what strengthens me to not be harmed by their words. Although the world may see me as a faulted, dull rock, God sees me as a precious, costly, brilliant, beautiful, flawless diamond. "He hath made every thing beautiful in his time..."(Ecclesiastes 3:11).
Jesus cares about the intimate details of our life. If He notices even a sparrow falling to the ground, how much more does he care about our problems? Jesus will help us with all emotional issues.
We live in a culture that glorifies comfort. Easy is better. But when it comes down to real growth or real change, easy is not better. A life with little or no pain will never allow me to be the deep, faithful, absolutely loyal soldier of Christ and son of God that I want to be. Sacrifice hurts, yet Christian love demands it. Denial of self is uncomfortable, and yet Christ has commanded us to do that daily. We as humans need to be stretched to change and grow.
God uses our suffering and pain for good. Discipline is painful. "Endure hardship as discipline. God is treating you as children. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it" (Hebrews 12:11).
Difficulty in life leads to toughness in character and rugged endurance, while ease and comfort often produce weakness. "Consider it pure joy... when you face trials of many kinds, because ... the testing of your faith develops perseverance" (James 1:2-3). "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9).
There is nothing more precious to God than our faith, and nothing reveals the true nature of faith better than adversity. When we cling to Him in pain and difficulty, we exhibit what He prizes. "[Trials] have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed" (1 Peter 1:7).
With Jesus there is Eternal Joy. It is a serene and untouchable self-contained joy that is beyond the chances, changes and circumstances in life. Being a Christian does not make life any easier. In fact, sometimes it gets harder. Jesus never promised an easy life for his followers. What he did promise was peace, internal satisfaction, and rest.
Psalm 9:9-10 "The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you."
Psalm 34:18 "The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."
posted by ENS at 8:42 PM
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