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Suffering

~ seeingeternity

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about suffering, the kind of physical or emotional anguish that leaves you restless, sleepless, breathless. It often strikes without warning or cause. even children aren’t exempt.

And we desperately want it to stop, RIGHT NOW.

But God often speaks to us through suffering, deep calling unto deep. He calls us further in, higher up, to a walk of raw and quivering faith that forever changes us. He calls us to trust Him, to steadfastly look away from our fears and dreads (He’s Lord of the future, which will likely be very different from our best or worst imaginings) and to walk out onto the water with him. (Matthew 14)

Can it drown us? Yes. Is it “safe”? No. But walk we must, trusting that each step will be made firm as our foot descends. No, beyond that: trusting that even if the water swallows us, we’ll be okay because He is there.

Threatened with being thrown into the furnace, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego said, “The God we serve is able to deliver us, and he will deliver us. But even if he does not…” (Daniel 3)

Jesus prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

This is the very essence of Jesus being our Lord. It’s not about us, or our ability to “work up” faith. It never has been. It’s about Him, and who He is.

Is He a cruel god who plays games with our hearts, twisting them this way, then that, untouched by our anguish?

Or is He good, a Master Weaver designing a beautiful, intricate and eternal pattern in our lives, using both the dark threads and the bright?

Suffering forces us to decide what we actually believe about God.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? …. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8)

© 2014 Deborah Morris

Questions or Comments?

Why Jesus Really Died for Us

~ seeingeternity

In thinking the other day about the parables in Matthew 13, I realized something startling: we are, to God, the treasure hidden in a field, the pearl of great price. “In his joy” he determined to redeem us, and “for the joy set before him” endured the cross to make us his own.

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.  When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” (Matthew 13:44-46)

“For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)

He did it not out of duty, but because he saw us as worth it all.

© 2014 Deborah Morris

Questions or Comments?

Vaccinating Against the Gospel

~ seeingeternity

Musing this morning about how easy it is to effectively “vaccinate” people against committing to Christ–not by making it too hard, but by making it too easy.

We so want to see them come into the kingdom of God that we wheedle, we smooth their way, we downplay the sacrifices involved in total obedience. And sometimes we persuade them, but it’s only a skin-deep conversion. They eventually drift away in the same way they drifted in…only now they think they understand what Christianity is all about, so they’re twice as resistant.

Jesus didn’t chase after the rich young ruler who turned away. He didn’t soften the terms, or give him a pep talk about how awesome it would be to follow Him. He watched the young man walk away. Who knows? Maybe the young man later changed his mind.

I’ve wheedled and “loved” people into spirit-numbing half-commitments. I hope I’ve learned my lesson. Real love carries a cross.

© 2014 Deborah Morris