‘The sufferings of
Christ were not those of ordinary people. He suffered “according to the will of
God” (1 Peter 4:19),
having a different point of view of suffering from ours. It is only through our
relationship with Jesus Christ that we can understand what God is after in His
dealings with us. When it comes to
suffering, it is part of our Christian culture to want to know God’s purpose
beforehand. In the history of the Christian church, the tendency has been to avoid being identified with the sufferings of
Jesus Christ. People have sought to carry out God’s orders through a
shortcut of their own. God’s way is always the way of suffering— the way of the
“long road home.” CHAMBERS
How do you feel about that? Are you willing to suffer for Christ or is
that contrary to what you think being a Christian is all about. Are we supposed to spend our life skipping
through the flowery fields with butterflies flitting back and forth … birds
singing …someone in the background singing zippidee do dah zippidee a .. my oh my what a wonderful day .. plenty
of sunshine coming my way!
Does God really want us to go without things and
to submit to hardship … to set our culture and its conveniences aside to serve
others .. to do without … Let me share an excerpt from a newsletter I received
recently … “Yvonne had dengue fever 6 times. She says, "They will use my
blood for the vaccine!" I had malaria twice, typhoid and hepatitis
together, and dengue a couple times. Our children never played baseball or went
to scouts. Our entire family has suffered from bacterial, amoebic and parasitic
dysentery.” Joel and Yvonne Trimble – Haiti for Christ
The
answer to my question is .. perhaps. We
must be careful that we do define our service in the context of what makes us
comfortable. God may lead us to a very
difficult place .. one filled with disease and inconvenience. In fact .. Oswald Chambers .. went to Egypt
as a military Chaplain and died in Cairo in 1917 from complications following
an emergency appendectomy. What about his
wife and children? It was his wife who
compiled his lectures and notes into several books, one of which is My Utmost
for His Highest.
What
keeps you from following God’s call?
Lack of conveniences? No
Starbucks on the corner? Maybe the
people have practices that bother you? Do you remember Jonah? He judged the people because of the way they
lived .. But God was going to bring a revival there. We need spiritual understanding … to see things the way God does .. Lord
forgive us if we fail
Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)
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