“We confess, do we not, that we have a Christian responsibility to believe God’s Word and to obey God’s Truth? Then we should accept the fact that it is our task to practice the Christian virtues in the power of the Holy Spirit as we await the coming of Him who will come. The great spiritual needs around us should drive us back to the gospel records of the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus. When evil men crucified Jesus, killed Him, they had no power to change Him. They could not alter the Person or the personality of the Son of God. Putting Him on the cross did not drain away any of His divine affection for a lost race. The best thing we know about our Lord and Savior is that He loves the sinner. He has always loved the outcast-and for that we should be glad, for we, too, were once outcasts! We are descended from that first man and woman who failed God and disobeyed. They were cast out of the garden, and God set in place a flaming sword to keep them from returning!”
There is something inherently lonely about suffering. As much as others try to be empathetic, they cannot fully understand. Your own suffering is unique to you, even if it does have similarities to others. One of the dangers of social media like Facebook is that if you are having a difficult time, the lives of others can seem perfect, and you can convince yourself they have no problems to face. As I said in my last post, however, the truth is that EVERYBODY does experience suffering of different kinds of sufferings at different times.
Knowing that you are part of a suffering community can be encouraging. But what is more encouraging still is knowing that you are still a child of God, and that he has made certain promises to you. I wanted to share with you today one promise that I have come back to time and again in the last 18 months since a friend sent me these words as a form of prophetic encouragement:
…the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you (1 Peter 5:9-10)
Lets begin to focus on some of the key words in these verses.
Some of my favorite biblical commands are the ones that most counter our culture, and even our little Christian subculture. We find just such a series of commands near the end of 1 Thessalonians. There Paul tells this church to “…aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands” (4:11). The ESV is nicely complemented by the NIV’s slightly different rendering: “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you.”
When Paul says “make it your ambition” he indicates that this is the good, right, and honorable way for them to live their lives—and for us to live our lives. Over against all the other things we could aspire to, we are first to aspire to these, for these are matters of first importance. He highlights three godly ambitions for the Christian.
“Those most passionate about the gospel of God’s free grace should be the most passionate about the pursuit of godliness.”
~ Kevin DeYoung
“If love does not mark your church, then it may attract spiritual hobbyists and theological accountants who like to play at religion and theology, but not people of real Christian love who inconvenience themselves for others.”
~ Mark Dever
“If we are desensitized to the horror of sin, we will be desensitized to the glory of righteousness.”
