I was just thinking on suffering. Sometimes, my heart aches fiercely when a friend is suffering. I know that the Bible teaches that this life is (among other things) for that - to share in the sufferings of the One Who came and suffered on our behalf...that this life is for Him...
So, it seems that if our lives as believers are going to have any weight of meaning when we reach the end of them, then we should embrace the suffering that comes, be anchored to Christ the true Rock when tempests blow our way, and (though racked with pain, aching with grief, flooded with sorrow) continue to worship the Rock. Sometimes, this is easier said than done...
I've known personally that when suffering abounds, somehow, Jesus draws me closer to Him as I find myself stepping foot in the very garden and up the mountaintop that He ascended. I know Jesus is found to be sweeter when I'm clinging to Him, feeling His presence in the midst of a famine, in the midst of tragedy, in the midst of life's troubles, but oh! the ache when these famines, tragedies, and troubles come. May He continue to give grace after a fierce storm has struck, and may He continue to remind me that He endured the storms Himself.
I need Him desperately.
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."James 1:2-4
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
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