Sunday, October 18, 2015
SUFFERING
SUFFERING-
AN ORDINARY PART OF LIFE
Are you suffering
In your life
Right now
Are you BLAMING God
Or are you UNITING
Your sufferings
With God's and Christ's
In a broad sense
suffering is defined as pain
And it can be mental-
Physical-or spiritual-OR
sometimes all three
At the same time
And it comes in varying degrees
From mild to intolerable
So I ask you again
ARE you suffering
I would say yes
Because we ALL are-in some way
For suffering
Is an ORDINARY part of life
And it is found
Even in the lives
Of us
Who follow Jesus
Maybe particularly so
“For this
You have been called
Because Christ
Also suffered for you
Leaving you an example
That you should follow
In his footsteps” 1 Peter 2:21
It is not
A punishment or a penalty
But an ordinary part
Of earthly existence
The good suffer
The bad suffer
And those in between suffer
IF you haven't suffered
At some point
In your life
You are not human
And most times
When suffering comes
We must simply
endure it
There is no way
To hurry it along
We simply must
LIVE through it
We must ENDURE the cross
-LIKE Christ did
And patiently
Work our way through it
GOD KNOWS our suffering
Before we even know
“I am in pain and distress
May your salvation-Oh God-
PROTECT me” Psalm 69:29
And God is PRESENT with us
Even when we are suffering
“MY flesh and my heart
May fail
But GOD is the strength
Of my heart
And MY PROTECTION FOREVER” Psalm 73:26
The more we endure the cross
The more Christ-like we become
And if Christ
Could RESURRECT
over death
over life
We can ENDURE suffering
By UNITING our lives
With Christ's
“Therefore
We do not lose heart
Though outward
We are wasting away
Yet inwardly
We are BEING RENEWED
DAY-BY-DAY
For our light
And momentary troubles
Are achieving for us
An ETERNAL glory
That far outweighs
Them all
So we fix our eyes
NOT on what is seen
But on
WHAT IS UNSEEN
For what is seen
Is TEMPORARY
But what is UNSEEN
IS ETERNAL” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
SUFFERING is
An ORDINARY part of life
But by UNITING our sufferings
With Christ's
WE WILL RISE AGAIN
Robert P. Wallman
5-15-14
INSPIRED by an article in LIVING FAITH magazine by Father James McKarns
Ps 8-20-14
1-13-15
10-18-15
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