What caught my attention from today’s reading was the place of suffering in the Christian life. If our life is to be patterned after Christ, then suffering is a necessary part of discipleship. And if this is true, then any attempt to avoid suffering is wrong headed. It will lead to false expectation about the Christian life as if God’s purpose in our lives is to protect us from all kinds of sufferings and hardships. No, rather God's will for our lives includes sufferings. As the apostle Paul says in Acts 14:22, “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” God’s purpose in our lives is not to help us to avoid hardship and sufferings but he does promise to give us his sufficent grace in our sufferings in order to accomplish his goals and to purify us from the power of sin that works through the members of our bodies. If we see our earthly sufferings as a necessary part of God’s plan of salvation, instead of trying to avoid it, we will be better prepared to face it when it comes… with the right frame of mind, knowing that God has a greater purpose than what we can understand in allowing us to go through sufferings.
As we enter into another new year we are entering uncharted and unknown sea. No ship has ever sailed this way before and we cannot tell what we may encounter on our journey in 2008. But whatever sufferings, trials, hardship, or difficulties may come our way, “let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised – to give us grace at the moment of our trials – is faithful. (Hebrews 10:23). As many of you know, the New Year began at least for our dear sister Ji with the sad news of her father’s passing. Even so, let us pray for her and her family as they grieve…that God would comfort them and strengthen their faith in Christ!
Posted by Pastor James
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2 comments:
A.W. Tozer said, "God puts through great suffering before pouring out his blessings."
God knows what's best for us, but we never fail to seek and desire what's best in our own perspective. We tend to think that sufferings are bad and that there won't be God's unsurpassing blessing in the end. Growing in faith is what's best for us in God's eyes so that we may be able to comprehend His greatness and wisdom during hard times in our life. Moreover, we may be able to acknowledge God's never ending blessings in our daily living.
I can't imagine what's she going thru...
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