God has not promised me a trial free life. Quite the opposite actually. Many times I have romanticized the scripture from Matthew 16: 24-27 which states:
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save His life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.�
Now looking at that scripture you may ask yourself, “How can anyone romanticize that?� I must agree that it is a pretty straight forward statement that Christ is calling us to. Sometimes I agree with something in my head but not with my heart. If I truly agreed with this calling with my heart I would not question God when I am uncomfortable, when I am wronged or when I do not feel appreciated. This is where I feel that we have misconstrued the invitation that Christ has given us.
This morning God spoke to me saying, “Aubrie you are precious to Me. Just like I watched My only begotten Son be beaten and tortured to death and did nothing to stop it, there will be times of trials and tortures upon you that I will not intervene.� Most people that read this will say that there is no way that God would ever say that, let alone allow that to happen to someone He loves, to someone who has committed their life to Him. Or would He?
“God never lied about the danger or cost associated with becoming His follower.� In Matthew 10:16 He tells us,
“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.�
When God spoke this to me I asked for Him to show me this truth in His Word.
In the book “Unleashed� by Erwin McManus (formally entitled “The Barbarian Way) the author references Matthew 11: 1-6. Look it up for yourself but an overview of the whole situation is that John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus Christ to come. Later, which we see in Matthew 11, John is imprisoned and hears about the works of Christ and sends his disciples to Jesus to ask,
“Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?�
Christ responds with,
“The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.�
Now as you study this out you will see that John already knew who Jesus was, he already knew that Jesus could perform those miracles. So why the question of Christ? I believe that John was saying, “Hey are you not the Savior, come relieve me of this trial, I know you can.� Is that not what we say to God when we face trials, when we are wronged or when our circumstances are not how we would like them to be? We say, “Hey God, if you can raise the dead, surely You can get me out of this.�
Look again how Christ responds,
“Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.�
Christ then goes on with whatever He was doing, even leaves town and does not attempted to get John out of prison. John’s response to Christ could lead to being blessed or cursed. If John chose not to be offended then he would be blessed. This is where we need to have the right perspective of the invitation. “Even Jesus understood His purpose was to save us not from pain and suffering, but from meaninglessness. For Jesus, John was exactly where he needed to be, fulfilling God’s purposes for his life.�
So let us not romanticize or misconstrued the invitation that Christ has offered us. Just like with John, Christ will allow us to go through trials and testing. God knows that plans that He has for us, they are for good not for evil. Yes there will be tribulations, distresses, dishonor, and unknown. 2Cor. 6:4-10 However, we can stand knowing that our light affliction is but for a moment, that it is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. 2 Cor. 4:16-18
God is working with us to save us from meaninglessness, not for us to get caught up in the mundane, blah life. I pray that we would run the race in such a way that we may obtain the imperishable crown. Run without uncertainty. Fight not as one who beats the air. For we know whom we have believed and we are persuaded that He is able to keep what we have committed to Him until that Day. 1Cor. 9:24-27, 2 Tim. 1:12
Respond to the Invitation.
