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| Title: | The CHRISTIAN Notesfile |
| Notice: | Jesus reigns! - Intros: note 4; Praise: note 165 |
| Moderator: | ICTHUS::YUILLE ON |
|
| Created: | Tue Feb 16 1993 |
| Last Modified: | Fri May 02 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 962 |
| Total number of notes: | 42902 |
426.0. "Suffering with Jesus" by N2DEEP::SHALLOW (Subtract L, invert W.) Wed Mar 02 1994 12:43
In a pursuit for more answers, I came across Romans 8:17;
And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ;
if we suffer with Him, than we may be glorified together.
And Philipians 1:29
For to you it is given in the nehalf of Christ, not only to believe on
Him, but also to suffer for His sake.
And 2nd Timothy 2:12
If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him: if we deny Him, He will
also deny us.
And many more, too numberous to mention. Using the Strongs translation:
3958 pascho {pas'-kho}
suffer, be vexed, passion feel
1) to be affected or have been affected, to feel, have a sensible
experience, to undergo
1a) in a good sense, to be well off, in good case
1b) in a bad sense, to suffer sadly, be in bad plight
1b1) of a sick person
What are some of the sufferings we share with Christ? From my
experience I see these...
To feel perhaps only a portion of what God feels when I look at the
world, and see the blindness of the many.
To watch the news, and be somewhat horrified at what man does to man,
or in some case, doesn't do, as in help, or aid others in distress.
To know that if they turned to God, through Jesus, the world would be a
better place.
To know many prefer to remain in darkness, some, even acknowledging the
consequences of eternal seperation from God.
To see the enemy of God, and man, destroying the lives of so many,
wreaking havoc on nations through war, famine, pestillence, etc...
There are more...what are your thoughts?
Bob
| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 426.1 | musings... | POWDML::MOSSEY | | Wed Mar 02 1994 14:38 | 28 |
| I've been thinking about this topic lately....
....only through the things we suffer in this life for His sake are
we made stronger and purer. When I am 'persecuted' (laughed at,
disdained for sharing the Gospel) I put it all back on Jesus. He
says "Cast your cares upon Him, for he careth for you." He's the one
who will soothe our soul when it's hurting.
I think it helps to put another person's 'dislike' for us in
perspective: "Why is this person reacting to me like this?"
and similar questions will yield the answer: "Because they don't
see me - left to myself, I would act/react the same as they are;
they see Jesus and don't want His light to shine in their darkness."
That line of thinking has really helped me, because on my own I
can't handle someone else's bad opinion of me, sarcastic remarks, etc.,
but if our aim is to please Jesus, regardless of the sacrifice to
ourselves, He'll take care of the rest. It doesn't mean it will
always be easy and pleasant, but He's promised to be there.
So, as a result of thinking about difficult things that have happened
in my life, I've come to the conclusion that I'm glad I went through
them (wasn't at the time) because it's made me (I think) a more
compassionate/caring/'fill-in-the-blank' person and these sufferings
continue to mold me into the person God desires me to be.
Karen
|
| 426.2 | more verses | KALI::EWANCO | Eric James Ewanco | Thu Mar 03 1994 11:36 | 33 |
| Don't forget Colossians 1:24:
"Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is
still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which
is the church."
Also:
Philippians 3:10: "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and
the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have
already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to
take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not
consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting
what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal
to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
It is through suffering that we are made into the image of Christ. I have some
great selections on the topic of suffering from St. Basil the Great of the
early church (4th or 5th century), but I'm not sure at this point I want to
type them in.
I think you'll find that suffering is a very frequent NT theme, and relates
very closely to our sanctification as Christians. Primarily, of course, Paul
is referring to persecution for being a Christian, but any suffering can be
applied to our sanctification.
For an idea of the Catholic understanding of the meaning of suffering, you may
like to read Pope John Paul II's encyclical "Salvifici Doloris" (On the
Christian Meaning of Human Suffering), note 1124.0 of conference
HASTUR::CATHOLIC-THEOLOGY.
Eric
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