Good Morning Friends,
“Jesus began to explain to his disciples that
he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders,
chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the
third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ‘Never,
Lord!’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you!’ Jesus turned and said to
Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have
in mind the things of God, but the things of men.’” (Matthew 16:21-23)
Sometimes the plan of God is painful on earth.
It was for Jesus. The apostles had a hard time accepting that. How could God’s
plan involve pain for a person fully committed to Him? We struggle with the
same question in our own lives. I have had many people ask me that same basic
question over the years: “Why pain?” I’ve struggled to understand it myself.
There aren’t any full answers to that question,
except this one: sometimes God’s plan is painful on earth! We are called, not
to a choose a life of ease and comfort here on earth, but a life of sacrifice
and pain to follow God. We are called to a life of taking up the cross. The
cross is an instrument of death and that’s what we are called to take up for
Him. We are called to a life of focusing not on what’s good or pleasant for us,
but to willingly sacrifice our lives for Him.
Is it worth it? Absolutely! We give what we
cannot keep to gain what we cannot lose. In the end, and that’s not in this
world, we’ll see we made the right choice!
Jesus knew He had made the right choice. He
endured the cross for the joy set before Him. (Hebrews 12:2) He went through
pain on earth because He knew it would be worth it in eternity! I’m living my
life trusting that the same will be true for us.
His, by Grace, Steve
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