GODSmessenger
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Member # 4198
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GOD'S PURPOSE FOR OUR SUFFERING
29 December, 2004
In the Bible, Jesus sadly asked, "...when the Son of man cometh,
shall he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8b; KJV) In His Divine
Wisdom, He knew that very few self-professed Christians would
truly choose the Road to Life (see Matthew 7: 13-14, which was
prophesied even though Christianity is the world's largest
religion today). This is because "Christians" offer to our LORD
only the claiming of His Name as Savior, church attendance,
paltry weekly donations to the collection plate, & perhaps
membership in some committees as their evidence of devotion
to Him. None of this means anything to the One known as
"the Man of sorrows, and well acquainted with grief". He did
not endure rejection, affliction, slander, & brutal crucifixion
just so we could attend church once a week & sing some
hymns. Instead, we are called to pick up our crosses &
follow Him, to drink of the same cup as He did, & be
baptized with His Baptism. His Life & the lives of His apostles
bore no resemblance to the "Christians" in the United States
today, who -- apart from church attendance & claiming they
are Christians -- are virtually indistinguishable from the
nonbelievers' lifestyles. He calls for a complete transformation
through Spiritual Growth, becoming more like Him & less
like the world. Many self-professed Christians will never
progress beyond the superficial level of "churchianity"
because they love their own particular denominational
doctrines & materialistic lifestyles too much to give "self"
entirely to Christ (forgetting how He suffered & gave Himself
entirely to us).
The who do hear His Indwelling Spirit's Call & choose to obey
are soon disheartened by the many trials & tribulations involved
in walking His narrow Road to Life. This is completely
understandable, especially when the trials are many in number,
severe in nature, & no end to them appears to be forthcoming.
After all, if Christ's Path was easy, then most of us would
be Spiritually Transformed in His Image & this world would
be a much different place. However, many give up in
despair, losing sight of hope in our LORD, wrongly believing
they are being "punished," or doubting His Existence
completely. Although these dark times are agonizing &
difficult to endure, we need to press closer to our LORD
in prayer & read all the examples of hardships that our
LORD, Himself, & His chosen people endured (e.g., Job
is a classic example). Remember, the servant is not
greater than the Master -- if our LORD endured injustice,
ingratitude, undeserved cruelty, rejection, & even feelings
of having been abandoned by GOD while on the cross
(because He had served GOD flawlessly, faithfully, &
without sin ... a claim none of us can make), then why
should we expect an easier path? If we are to become
one with Him, then we must walk His Path & become
Spiritually Transformed into His Divine Nature ("He must
increase, but I must decrease" [John 3:30; KJV]). To help
us through these times, we must study the lives of our
LORD, Job, Joseph, Paul, Jeremiah, & GOD'S other
servants who suffered greatly as His representatives.
So why must we suffer multiple & prolonged heartaches?
GOD does this for several reasons, & all are for our
benefit. First, we must remember that He does this
only for His chosen ones for whom He has great plans
& great blessings -- if He had no use for us or didn't
value us, then He wouldn't waste His Time or Effort
with us. In order to eliminate our attachment to this
earthly realm & prepare us for our Calling & Blessings,
He must transform us so we can use them wisely &
reverently. Granting us His great Blessings now without
the proper Spiritual Maturity would be as wise as letting
a child have a Corvette simply because he wants it. So
let's keep that in mind during our darkest trials. Therefore,
the purpose of our tribulations is to remove our human
imperfections, refine us as flawless diamonds, & create
for Himself true representatives who will reflect Him to
the world.
Take Joseph, for example, who was destined to save
both the Egyptians & the Israelites from years of severe
famine. He had to first be corrected by GOD over many
years in order to create that great leader from the boy
who was greatly spoiled by his father, favored openly
over his older brothers, & was prone to bragging about
his prophetic dreams regarding his siblings paying
homage to him (which even angered his doting father
at one point). No one likes a "show off," & the Bible has
provided several tragic examples about the error of
parents favoring one child over another (had Jacob not
so blatantly favored Joseph over his other sons, they
might not have been maddened with hatred & sold him
into slavery in the first place. Joseph's bragging also
aggravated the problems leading up to his brothers'
actions, especially when they weren't of high quality
character to begin with. But the Bible clearly demonstrates
how GOD can bring good from our evil, selfish actions).
So imperfections & immaturities had to be removed
from Joseph's character before GOD could institute His
Great Plan & Blessings for him & his entire family. Also,
because Joseph saw GOD turn his evil situation into one
of unimaginable power & good, he was able to love &
forgive the brothers who had betrayed him. Only the
emergence from the dark night of the soul enables us
to rise above earthly situations & human reactions to
GOD'S holier level & forgive those who have wronged us,
for worldly events & others' actions become less
important when we've been personally blessed by Divine
Love & the understanding of GOD'S Master Plan behind
all that has happened to us. Jesus understood His
crucifiers' actions as stemming from ignorance & forgave
them even in His dying agony -- that's what Divine Love
from GOD'S transformation can achieve.
Also, GOD puts us through trials to prove to us that He
can keep us in Him when we fear that certain losses or
hardships would destroy our faith in Him. It is possible
that Job's sufferings came upon him because he secretly
feared he would not be devoted to GOD if his many
blessings were removed. This is revealed by Job's own
words, "For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon
me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me"
(Job 3:25; KJV). Many of us fear we might turn against
GOD if something very important to us was removed
from our lives or if great suffering was inflicted upon us.
By doing this, GOD proves to us that we can trust Him
& that nothing in this world can ever pluck us from His
Loving Grasp. By the time we emerge from these trials,
our faith is stronger, our Blessings are usually greater, &
we realize we never have to be afraid of anything again.
No, it is NOT easy, & we may feel confused & even angry
at Him many times -- He understands that. But, when it's
over, we are much stronger in Him than we ever thought
possible, & we learn an important lesson: our dread/fear
is always far worse than the actual object of our dread/
fear. Once again, the outcome is Spiritual Maturity, a
closer relationship with GOD, less attachment to the
world, & a reduction in our undesirable earthly flaws in
our character & perception.
Finally (as hard as it is to imagine now), we must remember
that our earthly lives will seem like a brief second in
comparison to our Eternal Lives in our Father's Kingdom.
All the earthly desires, financial gains, & what others
think of us will be totally unimportant at that time in our
real Lives with GOD. Think back to early childhood about
a toy you just HAD to have -- so much so that you believed
your world would end if you could not obtain it. How
important is that toy to you NOW in your adult life???
Everything in this world will have the same insignificance
when we cross over to Eternity, & it is so tragic how many
people won't realize that until it's too late.
So be patient in your painful trials & don't regard them as
"punishments". Our LORD is perfecting us & maturing us
in our Spiritual Identities, & trials do n-o-t last forever --
whatever you're experiencing right now, GOD w-i-l-l bring
it to an end. In the meantime, ask Him to show you what
He wants you to learn from your current situation (if we
learn His Lesson, the trial will be shortened) & review the
Bible to remind yourself that none of His valued representatives
were popular or led charmed lives of ease & wealth. Also,
never hesitate to ask other Christians to stand with you &
pray for you during difficult times. Remember this: the
more prolonged & difficult your trials, the more GOD values
you, & the greater the Blessings that will ultimately come
your way afterward if you stay faithful to Him. The true
Christian life was never meant to be easy, painless, or
limited to mere church attendance as our only responsibility
to the One who loved us & gave Himself for us.
Always In Our LORD'S Service:
GOD'S Messenger
Make A Difference Ministries
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Yours In Our LORD'S Service:
GOD'S Messenger
Make A Difference Ministries
Posts: 19 | From: California | Registered: Dec 2004
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