Suffering

Paul says in Colossians 1:24-26:

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake,

and in my flesh I am filling up

what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions

for the sake of the body

that is

The Church...

to make the Word of God fully known,

the mystery hidden for ages and generations

but now revealed to His saints.”

There is so much here; I understand but superficially. What sufferings is Paul speaking of? Hunger, sleepless nights, illness, long journeys, ship wreck, beatings, stoning, prison, rejection by his own people, heartache over believers. How is it that our suffering can fill up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions? I don’t know but each of us as believers has the privilege of sharing in some aspect of the suffering of the Bridegroom, “We share in His sufferings.” (Phil 3:10) I am not yet at the point where I can embrace, rejoice in my sufferings. I am able to give thanks on the other side, but not in the midst of the trial--except, perhaps, through gritted teeth, but that is changing. Paul says he can rejoice in sufferings “for their sake, for the sake of the church, in order to make the Word of God fully known.”  Here is how Paul can rejoice: His passion is preaching Christ. He has seen how his sufferings have made Christ and His sufficiency come alive to the Body of Christ. His suffering has deepened his message; given credulity to those who would immediately enter into suffering upon confessing Christ. The early church was birthed in blood and tears as it is today. The estimated number of deaths in the world last year because of faith in Jesus was 175,000.

Papa, It grieves me to see the suffering of your children across the world today but as I ponder this scripture I see that we as Believers do not suffer for naught but our suffering has meaning. It has meaning here in this country, also, even though the suffering is not as visible. How can we make the gospel fully known if we are not identified with Christ in His sufferings which includes rejection, loneliness, loss...?  Phil 3:10 says: "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death..."

The Vocation of Natural Life

Yesterday I picked up My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers and then chewed on his thoughts all day.  

I read it again and decided to share it with you.

"The call of God is not a call to any particular service; my interpretation of it may be because contact with the nature of God has made me realize what I would like to do for Him. The call of God is essentially expressive of His nature; service is the outcome of what is fitted to my nature. The vocation of the natural life is stated by the Apostle Paul: “When it pleased God to reveal His Son in me that I might preach Him (ie sacramentally express.) among the Gentiles.” (Gal 1:15,16)

Service is the overflow of supra-abounding devotion, but, profoundly speaking, there is no call to that, it is my own little actual bit and is the echo of my identification with the nature of God. Service is the natural part of my life. God gets me into a relationship with Himself whereby I understand His call, then I do things out of sheer love for Him on my own account. To serve God is the deliberate love-gift of a nature that has heard the call of God. Service is expressive of that which is fitted to my nature:  God’s call is expressive of His nature, consequentially, when I receive His nature and hear his call, the voice of the Divine nature sounds in both and the two work together. The Son of God reveals Himself in me, and I serve him in the ordinary ways of life and devotion to Him."

Stress

Stress results from wanting to rush headlong into the website thing that You, Papa, 

have given to me. I want to make it work perfectly. 

I want it to come together as a flow--smooth water--no ripples.

Instead I find boulders in the river; things slow down, get stuck. 

I can’t move forward. I feel frustrated.

 I forget whose idea this is; 

Who called me, Who is calling the shots, 

even what the purpose is: 

To make Christ known as I live out my life with Christ in me, the hope of glory!

Salvation--God Pursues

God moves toward man who has the seed of Adam within, who is spiritually dead, 

who cannot reach out to God anymore than a corpse can raise its arms. 

God the Father, the lover, reaches across time through the death and blood of His Beloved Son, 

to win and bring back to life the descendants of Adam. When man, who is bound, 

responds to the Lamb, LIFE comes into him and the fellowship that was broken in the garden, is restored.  

Scripture says that “the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world." (Rev 13:8)

God provided the sacrificial Lamb before he created Adam, before Adam sinned. 

Adam rejected the gift of eternal life contained in the fruit of the Tree of Life, 

but this was not the end of the story, for “God so loved the world that HE GAVE His only begotten Son 

that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but has eternal life.” (Jn. 3:16)

Jesus says in Jn 10:10: “I am come that they might have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

Papa, It broke your heart when Adam chose the wrong tree and his spirit died within him. 

Fellowship was cut off--in both directions--but you had a plan. Adam’s sin did not take you by surprise. 

It never does. You sent your Son to break the curse of Adam’s sin. 

Your Son took my sin upon Himself and gave me His Life in exchange. 

It is because of your pursuit of me that I have meaning, purpose and eternal life.  Glory!

Random thoughts on the Garden

Tree of Life: If Adam had eaten it first, before he ate of the Tree of Knowledge, 

Adam would have acquired knowledge--but from the right source: God.

The Tree of Life is Jesus; He is the living Vine and He dwells in me. 

He dwells in every Believer.

LIFE in God always triumphs knowledge. 

When Adam lost the garden, he lost his home. Man has been looking for a home, 

a place he can call home, ever since.

When man lost contact with Life, all he was left with was law. Now that is death!

When Adam sinned,  did God cry?

The Two Trees

  The second chapter of Genesis specifically mentions two trees in the garden. Both reside in the middle of the garden; both are beautiful. One of them gives life. It is called The Tree of Life. The second tree takes life. It is called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The first command is given to Adam:  “You may eat of every tree of the garden, but of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die.”  (Gen. 2:16,17)  I find it strange that God did not specifically point out the Tree of Life and say, “The day you eat of that Tree is the day you will receive Eternal Life--you will never die.”

When God spoke this to Adam, Eve was missing. When God brought Eve to Adam, did he grab her by the hand and take her all over the garden? Did he pull her over to the glorious Tree of Life and say to her, “We may eat of this tree so let’s dig in!” Did he take her to the “other tree” and tell her exactly what God had said? Scripture does not reveal how Adam and Eve spent these first days together, but in Genesis 3 we find Eve chatting with a beautiful creature and, evidently, Adam was standing beside her. The conversation goes back and forth but I notice that Eve is not quoting God exactly; her husband is silent.   Eve eats;  Adam is given the fruit and he eats while at the same time remembering...

Papa, our parents were given an incredible place to live. It is full of light, warmth, beauty, pure water, lush with trees of all kinds. They have plenty to eat, a world to explore, paradise! But in the midst of all that beauty stands a tree of death--that looks luscious on the outside. There is also the Tree of Life. They can’t have them both. I sit here and realize anew that I have a choice. I can choose whether I will munch on the Tree of Knowledge or on the Tree of Life. I eat from the tree of Knowledge every time I choose to live independently of You. Sometimes, many times, this way looks good on the outside, but it leads to self and self in itself, has nothing to offer me. I choose to lean on You because in myself I cannot choose what is best. I see life from the perspective of time but You see life from the perspective of eternity.  My desire is to choose life today.

The Garden

God plants a garden: 

 “Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden;and there he put the man 

he had formed. And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out the the ground--trees

that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were 

the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Gen. 2:8,9

A river flows through the garden. A mist goes up to water this garden. It never rains. 

God places this perfect man and perfect woman into a perfect garden.

He tells Adam to cultivate and protect the garden. God gives man dominion.

Then God gives Adam the privilege of naming all of the animals. (I really like this!)

Papa, I see here how much you love Man to whom you gave a purpose.

You gave Adam and Eve a place to live, a place to love, to share; to work.

A place where God and man can talk face to face. 

He lives in a beautiful garden that is full of good things to eat and things to explore. 

He is perfect; the garden is perfect; he lacks nothing.

Man has a home. 

He is home.