I had every intention of writing an original blog for tonight, however, life is busy at this present moment. I was going through some of the writings I have saved on my computer and came across this one that I wrote awhile back. I figured it was a good share since it was in line with the message tonight at church. Enjoy!
No, don't enjoy. Be challenged!
Okay, enjoy and be challenged together.
“My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.” Philippians 3:10-11
If suffering for a Christian means fellowship with Christ’s suffering, what does it mean when we try to avoid those situations that may result in heartache? What are we saying when we look upon hard times with reproach or even dread? What do we communicate to God when we say, “I can’t do what you’re asking me to do because it will be too painful for me,”? Let’s imagine for a minute, that when we perceive a painful situation from this perspective, that we are ultimately saying that we despise Calvary and Christ’s death on the cross. When we reject our personal crosses to bear, are we rejecting Calvary? This is a valid argument. We say we despise suffering, and Christ took suffering upon Himself, Christ was a man of sorrows, thus we are despising His life. We say, “We’re too good to suffer,” yet, the only One who was good knew nothing but suffering. We say, “Suffering is not the worthy way,” however, the Worthy One thought it worthy enough to suffer for humanity. What about the fellowship? What promise do we have in our own misery, loneliness, or despair? The promise we have is, “I’ll never leave you nor forsake you.”(Joshua 1:5) Although we feel alone in our suffering, we really are not alone in our suffering, for our Lord knew suffering, and our Lord is with us through it all. He is the High Priest who has been tested in every way that we have (Heb. 4:15), so we truly do fellowship with Christ through it. So, the next time we are faced with a challenge that may be painful, remember the night in the Garden, when Christ chose His Father’s will above His own, and chose suffering for His children, and know that when we embrace the suffering, we are embracing Christ.
2 comments:
Great word Amanda. We often talk about our suffering so much that we almost glorify it. What we forget is that we had no choice in our suffering's. It is a part of life at times for us, and a surety that it is one day coming to reside in our lives. The only choice we make in it is how we get through it. But God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinner's Christ died for us. Jesus had a choice in his suffering. One spoken word from his mouth could have stopped it all. But love compelled him to a scourging post, love compelled him to a cross. God help us to be worthy to suffer for the sake of the cross, let us be compelled with compassion for the lost and worthy to share the cup with you.
Pastor Ronny
"The FELLOWSHIP of his sufferings!" Never quite saw that line before or should I say never pondered it. So powerful Manda it compels one to ask, why did I not choose grace & strenght when going through that valley, that storm, that trial? Fellowship with God was waiting to be embraced when I was going thru the pain but instead I chose to be downcast, thus opening the door WIDE for the enemy to come in & deprive us of the opportunity to become closer to God!! Once we open that mental floodgate he plays those mind games that cause us to forget WHY we are to take every thought captive & the journey of walking in defeat begins. I will remember this! Thank you for sharing & your faithfullness to the gift God has given you Manda. I love & admire you so much not just because your my granddaughter but because your a miracle, a wonderful woman of God & a fantastic mother! Love u tons :)
Post a Comment