EMBRACE SUFFERING
That's what John Piper told me and 59, 999 other people to do Night #2 of Passion 2013
I loved his message and was actually impressed with the fact that I decently kept up with what he was saying! But that was the focus. . .Not to ENDURE suffering, but to EMBRACE it.
Welcome it.
Want it.
Walk into it.
Rejoice in it.
Choose to suffer.
Of course to most people this seems really backwards and crazy.
But as Christians we know that the Bible promises suffering. And we must chose to embrace that suffering on the path of love to liberation.
We can do this joyfully because we know what is ahead. We know how all of this ends. We have Christ. We have everlasting joy. We have eternity with Him!! We know that we have something better waiting for us.
We have INDESTRUCTABLE hope!!
Piper took us to Hebrews where he pointed out 3 stories.
One being Moses in chapter 11.
Moses chose to suffer with the people because he looked forward to the reward ahead. It says he considered reproach for the sake of the Messiah to be greater wealth than the tresures of Egypt!!
After my brain was completely full with Pipers message, we continued on to our community groups
(RED GROUP SHOUT OUT!!!)
There we got to talk about suffering with our family groups and we asked each other what is suffering for us? Because we are each so different, what would we consider to be suffering for the sake of Christ? Are some of us super shy and non social so suffering might be speaking up to 1 person or a group of people about our faith. Some of us are SUPER social and are homebodies and have great friendships so suffering might be leaving them and the country or going into full time missions to proclaim the gospel.
In this discussion I was looking in Hebrews where Piper had us earlier, and while I loved the parts John Piper touched on I went a little bit further. I read the whole chapter 11.
This chapter talks about Heroes of Faith. Basically it summarizes the whole Old Testament!
Almost each cahracters' story starts with the SAME two words
"By Faith"
By faith WE know God created the earth
By faith Abel offered a better Scarifice
By faith Noah built the ark
By faith Abraham left his home and obeyed God's call
By faith Sarah had a child
By faith Abraham was willing to offer Isaac
By faith Moses left his wealth
By faith the walls of Jericho fell
By faith Rahab protected the spies
And the author of Hebrews even says there isn't enough time to tell of the faith of all the others!!
(I imagine his hand was starting to hurt…..)
There are SO many instances where people conquered HUGE obstacles because of their faith in GOD to accomplish them.
And if you know these individual stories, these were no small obstacles. Not even just decently sized.
These people conquered entire kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the raging fires, escaped the sword, gained strength after being week, put foreign armies to flight, dead were raised to life, tortured, mocked, scourged, and imprisoned…..need I say more???
This led me to start thinking about all the things in my life I consider to be huge obstacles. And from my perspective in comparison to the ones in chapter 11…mine are small hills, maybe even speed bumps.
So I ask myself Why Not??
Why can't I raise $15,550?? By Faith THROUGH Christ I can!!
Why can't I leave the comforts of home and leave my friends??
Why can't this generation lead a movement to END slavery and FREE 27 MILLION PEOPLE!??
IT'S ALL POSSIBLE THROUGH CHRIST!
HAVE FAITH!
Ultimately the victory is GOD'S! Glory goes to Him. Recognition goes to Him! He is the center of it all. Without him NOT ONE of the things mentioned are/were possible.
Why would I not surrender my worries and my obstacles to the One who controls all things??
I leave you with the beginning of Hebrews chapter 12.
The Call to Endurance
Therefore since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and run with endurance the RACE that lies before us!! Keeping our eyes on JESUS the source and perfecter of our faith who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and he sat down at the right hand of God's throne.
