Sharing in His Sufferings

7/19/2023

July 19

Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me? (John 18:11)

To “drink the cup” was a greater thing than calming the seas or raising the dead. The prophets and apostles could do amazing miracles, but they did not always do the will of God and thereby suffered as a result. Doing God’s will and thus experiencing suffering is still the highest form of faith, and the most glorious Christian achievement.

Having your brightest aspirations as a young person forever crushed; bearing burdens daily that are always difficult, and never seeing relief; finding yourself worn down by poverty while simply desiring to do good for others and provide a comfortable living for those you love; being shackled by an incurable physical disability; being completely alone, separated from all those you love, to face the trauma of life alone; yet in all these, still being able to say through such a difficult school of discipline, “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” —this is faith at its highest, and spiritual success at its crowning point.

Great faith is exhibited not so much in doing as in suffering.

Charles Parkhurst

In regard to suffering... sometimes I don’t think I suffer very much... definitely not physically and rarely emotionally. I heard in a song called “Man of Sorrows,” the singer pleads, “Break my heart for what breaks Yours.” I know THAT broken heart requires walking closely enough with Him to feel the pain He feels about the sin in my life, in others’ lives, and the general moral state of things and lack of love on the planet. I know He suffers from ALL of that, and I can share that with Him if I refuse to numb the pain through 101 selfish ways. These are some notes I wrote to myself a week ago to remember:

If not feeling any pain:
- You don’t care about the things that aren’t like Jesus in your own life.
- You don’t care about the things that aren’t like Jesus in the lives of those around you. Or in other words, you aren’t loving anyone.
- You are numbing yourself on pleasure and the world (the animal cravings of the eyes, the animal cravings of the flesh, the pride of what you have and do).

There are two kinds of pain that you can feel about the things that aren’t like Jesus in your own life:

1) One is self-centered and based on pride (oh the embarrassment of it all) or legalism (Viewing God as the cosmic judge that you’ll never be good enough to please. Hint: you’ll never be good enough.)

2) The other is based on a genuine love relationship. Sin hurts God. Sin hurts people. So if I truly love, then it will hurt me when I hurt God and others through my selfish choices. But that kind of Godly sorrow can get back to Work quickly, without the radio introspection and wallowing that the first kind of pain generates.

Loving and +1ing others will ALWAYS involve a cross... death to self so that others might live. Only the broken vessel (Gideon’s pitchers, Mary’s alabaster jar) brings true Light and the Aroma of Life.

This is the kind of person I want to be, that I will be, because He’s making me to be.

I tried to put the above highlighted sentence into words for the children. Seeds :) Little children, if you choose to obey and make God smile EVEN when you really hurt or it’s a very hard choice, THAT is the BEST kind of Attitude ever—FAITH! And is a sparkling, shining way to live.