Sunday, September 28,
2014, 4:45 a.m. – the Lord Jesus put in mind the song, “All Through the Night.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I
read 2 Corinthians 1 (NIV84).
Isn’t God
awesome? He is! He created us. He knows everything about us. He created us for
a reason. He has a plan for each one of our lives. He orchestrates things in
our lives for his purposes. I love to watch him work in my life and in the
lives of others. There is nothing which escapes his notice. He allows all
things for a reason. We may not always see the reason when we are going through
particular situations in our lives. We can’t always see the light at the end of
the tunnel, but it is there if we will seek his face and follow him even when
we can’t see what lies ahead, or even though we don’t know the end result.
Comfort for Comfort
Paul, an apostle of Christ
Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the church of God in
Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia:
2 Grace
and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Praise
be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and
the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so
that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have
received from God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over
into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6 If
we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted,
it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same
sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we
know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our
comfort.
Suffering is part
of life. Part of this is due to the fall of man and the curse. Some of it may
be caused by our own sin and/or own stupidity, i.e. through us not acting
wisely. Yet, some of it is part of God’s plan and purpose for our lives, such as
Paul described for us here. First of all, we suffer because in doing so we
share in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings.
“For it has been
granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him
but also suffer for his sake…” (Phil. 1:29 ESV). In context, this is speaking
of suffering persecution and opposition to the sharing of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Jesus told his disciples that they would suffer in the same way he
suffered, which included being hated, falsely accused, persecuted, falsely
arrested, beaten, and hung on a cross to die.
“Indeed, I count
everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my
Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as
rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a
righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through
faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Phil. 3:8-9
ESV). In context, this is speaking of giving up all worldly, fleshly and
earthly gain for the sake of knowing Christ, growing in him, and becoming like
him in his death (v. 10). We should gladly forfeit all to follow Christ.
“Not only that,
but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does
not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through
the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Ro. 5:3-5 ESV). Suffering helps us
to grow stronger in our faith and to become more steadfast, consistent, and
persistent in our walks of faith and in our testimonies for Jesus Christ and
for his gospel of salvation.
And, not only
that, but when we go through such times of suffering and persecution, our Lord
comforts us, encourages us, teaches us, gives us guidance and direction, and he
fills us with hope. His love, care and watch over us during these difficult
times help keep us going, and give us much strength and courage to continue on
in the faith. Because of that, when others are going through similar struggles
and difficulties, we can share with them in empathy but also in encouragement,
because we can tell them of the hope we were given during those times so that
they, too, will have hope and courage to keep going.
Under Great Pressure
8 We do
not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the
province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to
endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Indeed, in our hearts
we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on
ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us
from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope
that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your
prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor
granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
Sometimes our
suffering can be fairly minor, even to the point of merely suffering some small
inconvenience, but even that can be used to teach us the value of life and
godliness. Other suffering may involve much loss, heartache, pain and even the
threat against our reputations or our very lives. Many believers in Christ
throughout the world are suffering enormous persecution, imprisonments,
beatings and death for the sake of their faith and their testimonies for Jesus
Christ and the gospel of our salvation. Some of us may not have yet had to
suffer such severe persecution, but we still face rejection, persecution,
hatred, being cast aside, being unwanted, and falsely accused of things we did
not do.
Yet, in all our
suffering, we must realize that it has a purpose, and it is to teach us to not
rely upon ourselves but on God. When things are going well in life, and we don’t
suffer much, it is easy to become lazy, complacent, comfortable and unconcerned
with the things of God, not spending the time alone with God that we should,
not listening to his voice, and thus not walking in surrender and obedience to
his word and to the promptings of his Spirit. When we go through difficulties,
we are more likely to thus turn to the Lord in prayer, seeking his face,
calling upon him for answers, and walking in obedience to his will and purpose
for our lives. When we share in the fellowship of his sufferings, we become more
like him in living godly and holy lives committed to him and to his purposes.
In Holiness and Sincerity
12 Now
this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in
the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and
sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom
but according to God’s grace. 13 For we do not write you anything
you cannot read or understand. And I hope that, 14 as you have
understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can boast of
us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus…
21 Now
it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22
set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a
deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
This should be
our goal! And, it should be the end result of our suffering that we should take
on the character of our Lord, and conduct ourselves in all that we do and say
in a godly, holy and honest manner. When we are in the world, and we are among
the people of the world, we should not conform to the standards of the world or
become like them. First of all, we should be people of integrity. And, we
should be the same no matter who we are with. We should not act one way with
other Christians and then another way when out among those who make no claims
to faith in Jesus Christ. That way, our conscience should be clear. Our walk
should always match our talk, not that we would be perfect all the time, but
that we would aim for that, i.e. that our purpose would be to live holy and
godly lives, and that we would pursue such a walk of faith in the power and working
of the Spirit within us.
As well, we
should not espouse nor should we follow after worldly wisdom, but we should be
in the Word daily, and we should follow the teachings of Christ and the
apostles in how we live our daily lives, guided and empowered by the Word of
Truth and by the Spirit within us. As well, we should be in the practice of
regularly testing everything we hear, see and read against the Word of God to
make sure it is in agreement and is consistent with his Word. So much worldly
teaching is being passed off these days as from God when it is not, but is of
human origin, so be wise and discerning or you may fall prey to much deception
and false teaching. Just because it looks like truth does not mean it is truth.
And, it is God
who makes us stand firm in Christ. We cannot do this by operating in our own
flesh or by following after the teachings and philosophies of human beings. We
must be fully surrendered to Christ, and we must rely completely upon his
Spirit within us to give us all we need to walk this walk of faith, to remain
steadfast, and to have the courage and determination needed to keep going even
in the face of much strong opposition. To God be all the glory for great things
he has done, is doing, and will do in our lives as we continue to trust him, to
fellowship daily with him, and to follow him wherever he leads us. Amen!
All Through the Night
/ An Original Work / December 7, 2013
Based off Various
Scriptures
Blessed are you when you’re persecuted
Because of your faith in Jesus Christ.
Blessed are you when people insult you,
And falsely say what leads folks to doubt.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is
Great in the heavens. You’re not alone.
When you are persecuted in one place,
Flee to another. God will be there.
You will be hated by all the nations
Because you testify of God’s grace.
Many will seize you and persecute you,
And put to death the foll’wers of Christ.
Yet, do not fear what humans may do to you,
For I’m with you all through the night.
I tell you, love your enemies with my love,
And forgive as I forgave you.
Pray for those who do evil against you.
Rest in my love and grace from above.
No comments:
Post a Comment