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A Call to Suffering
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1 Peter 2:20,21 But if you are punished for doing wrong, there is no reason to praise you for bearing that punishment. But if you suffer for doing good and you are patient, this pleases God. This is what you were chosen to do. Christ gave you an example to follow. He suffered for you. So you should do the same as he did …
Listen to the radio broadcast of A Call to Suffering
Download audio fileNo one likes to suffer. You don’t, I don’t, and yet, God has a lot to say about suffering. And what He does say, well, it ain’t all that pretty.
I’ve often thought that if God had hired Himself a half-decent public relations consultant when the Bible was being written, it would have turned out a whole lot different to the way it did. And certainly some of the yucky bits could have been cleaned up, smoothed over, sanitised.
Take the bit about suffering – Jesus told His disciples that anyone who followed Him, would have to suffer. In fact, the Bible specifically says of suffering that to this you have been called.
1 Peter 2:20,21 But if you are punished for doing wrong, there is no reason to praise you for bearing that punishment. But if you suffer for doing good and you are patient, this pleases God. This is what you were chosen to do. Christ gave you an example to follow. He suffered for you. So you should do the same as he did …
I mean … hang on just a cottin’ pickin’ minute here.
What sort of a calling is that?! A call to suffering?
A good PR consultant would have polished that up a little bit. Something like, “Look every now and then, things may get a little uncomfortable, but don’t worry, it’s a short-term thing. God’s going to make it all go away.”
But that’s not what the Bible says. The Holy Spirit is very clear on this. Following Jesus is a call to suffering. It’s a call to being misunderstood, spurned and punished for doing right, just as Jesus was.
Following Jesus is a call to suffering. Don’t be surprised when it happens.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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