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BUFFERING THROUGH SUFFERING (2)
'God ... made Jesus perfect by suffering' Hebrews 2:10
The angel of death passed over every home smeared with goat's blood. Yet that was specific to that particular story in the Bible (find it in Exodus 12). You can decorate your front porch with Dulux's finest sacrificial blood range today and still not be exempt from suffering. Cancer doesn't skip your house just because there's a 'Shalom' sign hung on the wall.
Debt doesn't leave you alone just because there is a Christian fish stuck to your car bumper. Alpha attendance doesn't write suffering an 'excuse me' note. The best of us will have our dose of pain. It's part and parcel of the ride. Jesus gives Peter a verbal slap on the wrist when he suggests that Christ should not suffer, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block ... you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men ... If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself ... take up His cross' (Matt. 16:23-24 NIV).
Harsh words. But let's not be surprised when misery knocks on our door. Jesus has promised it. God uses suffering to make us more Christ-like. 'My troubles turned out for the best - they forced me to learn from God's textbook' (Ps. 119:71 TM).
What now? Read how the writer of Lamentations 3:1-24 expresses pain in the face of suffering. It might help to create your own poem as an expression of any hurt you're keeping in.
written by Bob Gass
'God ... made Jesus perfect by suffering' Hebrews 2:10
The angel of death passed over every home smeared with goat's blood. Yet that was specific to that particular story in the Bible (find it in Exodus 12). You can decorate your front porch with Dulux's finest sacrificial blood range today and still not be exempt from suffering. Cancer doesn't skip your house just because there's a 'Shalom' sign hung on the wall.
Debt doesn't leave you alone just because there is a Christian fish stuck to your car bumper. Alpha attendance doesn't write suffering an 'excuse me' note. The best of us will have our dose of pain. It's part and parcel of the ride. Jesus gives Peter a verbal slap on the wrist when he suggests that Christ should not suffer, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block ... you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men ... If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself ... take up His cross' (Matt. 16:23-24 NIV).
Harsh words. But let's not be surprised when misery knocks on our door. Jesus has promised it. God uses suffering to make us more Christ-like. 'My troubles turned out for the best - they forced me to learn from God's textbook' (Ps. 119:71 TM).
What now? Read how the writer of Lamentations 3:1-24 expresses pain in the face of suffering. It might help to create your own poem as an expression of any hurt you're keeping in.
written by Bob Gass
