Tag Suffering

Let Them See

Todd R Leave a comment

Dear fellow travelers,

If Jesus was such a good person – a perfect person – why was He killed?

Ultimately it was because He claimed to be God and King, which was blasphemy to the religious leaders and rebellion to the political leaders.  But the hate many people had for Him was also ironically driven by His good deeds.  I suspect that if Jesus had done less good, He might have been hated less.  Why is that?  He often loved the kinds of people that the religious leaders preferred to keep away from, people like tax collectors, prostitutes, and so on.  Jesus also did good deeds in what those who hated Him would consider the “wrong” way, for example by healing on the Sabbath.  Yet, centuries later some call Him a “good teacher” or something similar because they can’t deny His goodness completely.

This isn’t just how Jesus lived His life, but it is also a model for anyone who follows Him.  The apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:12 that we should:

“Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

When Jesus began His public ministry, every person was a “Gentile” in the sense meant by Peter.  He was referring not to non-Jews but to non-Christians.  Jesus lived His life almost entirely among that type of person, yet He kept His conduct “honorable.”  Instead of acting the way everyone else does, or acting the way they expect Him to act, He loved as God loves and as we also should, and His many “good deeds” are the evidence of that.

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Yet many slandered Jesus, including saying that He had a demon or that He was doing the devil’s work.  Others hated Him because He was not the kind of Messiah they expected or wanted.  Jesus did not respond in kind, fighting fire with fire, but He kept doing what His Father told Him to do: live the perfect life so that He could be our role model, but more importantly so He could be the perfect sacrifice for our sins.  He loved even those who hated Him, expecting nothing in return.

At the time Peter was writing, Christians faced a lot of opposition, and widespread, official persecution under Nero was coming very soon.  Christians were called disloyal citizens for refusing to participate in the cult of Caesar, cannibals[1], dangerous to the economy[2], and more.  As Jesus was treated, so are His people, for He said, “A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”[3]  Christians still face opposition today, and what should we do?

Following God’s commands and Jesus’ example results in “good deeds” that cannot be denied by outsiders, and the ability to love even our enemies is a powerful testimony to a world that doesn’t think that way.  When our faith benefits others, Jesus’ impact on our lives may become undeniable even to outsiders, but just as when Jesus was here, the world is happy to accept His benefits but reject His lordship.  The world will hate us for claiming another Lord and for not hating the enemies they want us to hate.  So, as Peter wrote:

“Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

[1] The Lord’s Supper was misunderstood by many, probably from hearsay and rumor rather than firsthand experience.
[2] See Acts 19:23-41
[3] John 15:20

Faithful Affliction

Todd R 4 Comments

Sometimes the Bible surprises us by explaining things differently than how our natural instincts would like.  In the case of Psalm 119:75, there are two words that we might not think of together:

“I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous,
            and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.”

How often do we associate God’s faithfulness with affliction?  Don’t we usually associate it with our blessings?  Yet there it is: “in faithfulness you have afflicted me.”

Earlier, in verse 71, David wrote:

“It is good for me that I was afflicted,
                        that I might learn your statutes.”

Then he says the benefit he gets from learning this is more than “thousands of gold and silver pieces”. Since we benefit from discipline, would God be unfaithful if He did not discipline us?  Or do we only consider Him faithful when things seem to go well?

“My son, do not despise the LORD’S discipline
            or be weary of his reproof,
for the LORD reproves him whom he loves,
            as a father the son in whom he delights.” – Proverbs 3:11-12

He is faithful, always.  Even in affliction.  Perhaps especially.

“If Necessary”

Todd R 1 Comment

All Christians face trials for following Jesus.  These can range from being disregarded or ignored, all the way to physical persecution and even death.  In the face of these trials, Christians can feel targeted or that their trials are unfair.  However, Peter assures us that all the trials we face for Jesus have a purpose.

In 1 Peter 1:6-7, he wrote: “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Note the words “if necessary.”  Those words beg the question of what is necessary and who decides that it is necessary?  Do we get to pick and choose our own trials, or would we probably choose to avoid them altogether?  Should we trust ourselves to choose wisely?  If we chose for ourselves, we might pick only trials we’ve already overcome or ones we are sure we can handle, but as Warren Wiersbe wrote: “We must not think that because we have overcome one kind of trial that we will automatically ‘win them all.’ Trials are varied, and God matches the trial to our strengths and needs.”[1]

Fortunately for all of us, God is the one who decides if, when, and why trials are “necessary.”  He decides whether we have trials, and only He knows all of the flaws in our faith and the best way for us to overcome them and grow in faith.  He ensures we face only “necessary” trials that test the “genuineness” of our faith and turn it into something “more precious than gold.”  These trials expose our impurities so that they may be removed.  Because of the words “if necessary,” we can rejoice in our salvation even when going through trials of all kinds.  They aren’t random or meaningless.

Therefore, we can rejoice even in our trials knowing they will “result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”  Any time we feel “grieved by various trials” we know they are temporary, and they serve God’s purpose for us.

Amen.

[1] Wiersbe, Warren.  Be Hopeful (1 Peter) (1982).  P. 35.

The Perfect Life

Todd R Leave a comment

Are you living your best life?  In American culture, people say they’re “living their best life” when they’re doing great, doing the things they enjoy, and there’s nothing else they’d rather do.  Sometimes we may do what we’re supposed to do and enjoy it, but I doubt anyone is doing this constantly without exception.  I also doubt it’s as completely fulfilling as we expect it to be or tell others it is.  Also, the “best life” we see others living on social media isn’t a full reflection of how their lives are going.

On the other hand, consider the only person who ever lived a life fully acceptable to God: Jesus.  His “best life” began in a dirty manger and ended on a dirty, bloody cross.  In between, He lived a life fully devoted to doing the work of the Father.  If Jesus’ life was perfect according to God, what does our “best life” really look like?

It doesn’t mean a life lived without happiness and joy, after all joy is a fruit of the Spirit, something that comes from following God.  I don’t get the impression that Jesus was never having a good time.  His first miracle was turning water into wine, and He was accused of being a “glutton and a drunkard.”[1]  He certainly wasn’t a glutton or drunkard, but someone who always acts like a stick-in-the-mud would not have faced these accusations.  Jesus enjoyed being among friends, even if they were “tax collectors and sinners,” and certainly lived a joyful life.  He was often enjoying Himself, although without excess or sin.

Photo by Austin Schmid on Unsplash

The same as with Jesus, our “best life” means living as God intended us to live, and what He wants most from us is to love Him and to love our neighbor.  We may want to live for ourselves and only care about what we can get out of this world.  As the saying goes, “he who dies with the most toys wins,” right?  But living this way has a negative impact on others and we can’t keep what we gain anyway.  I’ve also heard that “you never see a U-Haul being pulled behind a hearse.”  In contrast, living for others is what Christ commands, following the Spirit’s guidance can bring us joy, and the positive impact we have on others has an eternal value greater than we can measure.

However, we know that many in Jesus’ day did not approve of the way He lived (even though it was perfect), and many of those people were the religious and political leaders.  The same will be true for His followers, as He said in Matthew 10:24, “a disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.”  In other words, if He suffered for doing good, why would we be an exception?  Truly living our “best life” according to God means that we will face resistance.  Christian love isn’t always a virtue this world admires or wants to see.

As we know, this opposition led to Jesus being turned over to the authorities and sentenced to death upon a cross.  Only His life didn’t end on the cross.  He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, where He prepares a place for us.  A place where we can live our “best life” perfectly and without opposition or persecution.  A place where we can be who God really intended us to be.  There should be nothing we’d rather do.

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” – Romans 8:18

[1] Matthew 11:19

Perfecting Faith Through Struggle

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King David wrote many Psalms during the difficult times in his life.  Psalm 18, written “on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul,”[1] is a song David wrote to praise God for His deliverance from difficulties in the past.  David describes the depths of the troubles he faced in verses 4 and 5:

“The cords of death encompassed me;
            the torrents of destruction assailed me;
the cords of Sheol entangled me;
            the snares of death confronted me.”

There were many moments where David faced enemies seeking to kill him, a situation we may never face.  But, like David we all face struggles and, while not literally life-threatening, some of them may feel like what David describes.  Our enemies may be external or internal, physical or spiritual, and Psalm 18 can be applied to them all.  David magnifies the powers that assailed him, which John Calvin wrote, “enhances and magnifies so much the more the glory of his deliverance. As David had been reduced to a condition so desperate that no hope of relief or deliverance from it was apparent, it is certain that he was delivered by the hand of God, and that it was not a thing effected by the power of man.”  David was truly in a desperate situation and sometimes we are too.

So, how can this Psalm help us in our struggles?  I’m going to focus on only a few of the Psalm’s 50 verses, including verses 1 to 3:

“I love you, O LORD, my strength.
The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
            my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
            my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,
            and I am saved from my enemies.”

Note that these verses come before the ones quoted earlier because before coming to God with his problems, David contemplated who God is and what he has learned about Him from experience.  When we’re struggling, we should also take the time to contemplate the nature of our God so we can get the right perspective.

David uses some military metaphors to tell us about God.  David says God is a rock, a fortress, a shield, a horn, and a stronghold.  These tell us that God:

Photo by Mario La Pergola on Unsplash
  • is a rock, immovable by our enemies and our problems.
  • is a fortress and stronghold, a secure place to flee from our enemies, where they cannot get in.
  • is a shield that protects us from harm.  Our enemies’ weapons can’t pierce God’s protection.
  • is a horn, with all the power we need to defeat our enemies.  A horn was a symbol of might in the Bible.

God is all these things for us too!

In verse 7, David added that when God answered his call for help, “the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry.”  God’s power, His “horn”, is so powerful that even the earth fears it, but we need to learn to trust in it, and it alone.

There is no sure way to learn to trust a fortress or shield, other than to test them in battle.  C.S. Lewis wrote that “God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons that we could learn in no other way.”  When we’re fighting an external battle against an enemy or against painful circumstances.  When we’re fighting an internal battle against temptation, a bad habit, an addiction, or maybe an unattractive character trait, God can teach us about who He is through the pain of those battles, and we can learn to trust Him more.

Although we will not defeat all of our enemies while we live in this world, and we may be frustrated knowing God is powerful enough to win, but we still fail anyway, we know that:

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
            his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
            great is your faithfulness.”[2]

He is faithfully by our side in every struggle, and eager to restore us when we fall, even if it’s every day (or more!).  But most importantly, we know that He is working in all things – even our fiercest battles – to perfect us and that He will not fail.  Even if we are unfaithful at times, He remains faithful always, and it’s His faithfulness that makes the difference.

If you’re fighting something today, remember that God is your rock, fortress, shield, horn, and stronghold, and you can trust Him.

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”  – Philippians 1:6

[1] Psalm 18:0 (title)
[2] Lamentations 3:22-23