"There is a positive aspect to suffering. We all endure suffering to some degree, but the good news is that through it we can become like Jesus" Henry Blackaby
Nobody likes suffering. We are creatures of comfort, aren't we? We go out of our way to avoid inconvenience. Therefore, when suffering comes, it roots us out of our comfort zones and makes us, well...uncomfortable.
I am not trying to minimize the pain of suffering but I do believe that, as Blackaby says above, there is a positive aspect that we can focus on when trials come that will help alleviate some of our inward focus. If we accept that suffering is inevitable and that suffering is one of God's ways to conform us to the image of His Son, we then can maybe endure better the hard times.
Gold is not gold unless it passes through a flame and the crucible. A diamond is not formed without extreme pressure and time. And you and I do not become like Christ through our comfort alone.
Paul said it best when he said,...
"Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, who existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death - even to death on a cross..."
I really don't want to invite suffering into my life but if it helps to hold me into Christ's image, may I embrace it with an eye towards what God wants to do in me through that suffering.
Amen...
Nobody likes suffering. We are creatures of comfort, aren't we? We go out of our way to avoid inconvenience. Therefore, when suffering comes, it roots us out of our comfort zones and makes us, well...uncomfortable.
I am not trying to minimize the pain of suffering but I do believe that, as Blackaby says above, there is a positive aspect that we can focus on when trials come that will help alleviate some of our inward focus. If we accept that suffering is inevitable and that suffering is one of God's ways to conform us to the image of His Son, we then can maybe endure better the hard times.
Gold is not gold unless it passes through a flame and the crucible. A diamond is not formed without extreme pressure and time. And you and I do not become like Christ through our comfort alone.
Paul said it best when he said,...
"Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, who existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death - even to death on a cross..."
I really don't want to invite suffering into my life but if it helps to hold me into Christ's image, may I embrace it with an eye towards what God wants to do in me through that suffering.
Amen...
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