The average Christian has never had to face the suffering that comes upon every effective ministry in the Word of God. This is not speaking of a martyr’s complex, nor does it speak of reaping from what you have sown, but it speaks of the suffering that comes through identification with Christ. Many people magnify small problems and call it suffering, but that is not suffering.
Those who suffer in identification with Christ, suffer for others because of love. They have ceased living for themselves. They have armed themselves with the mind of love, no longer living their lives in the flesh. Their words now speak of living their lives for the purpose of redemptive love.
Consider where Christ was placed because of His Redemptive Love. Love left Christ accused, forsaken, without a place to lay His head, hungered, thirsty, lonely, and suffering because His love was wounded. He loved so much that His life was spent in identifying totally with the needs of weak men.
He always stood in identification when double-minded men forsook His love for a time and even denied they knew Him after He had loved them perfectly. Think of what it means to suffer for the sake of Love. It may mean to go hungry, because of the opportunity to minister to the multitudes. It may mean to be wearied, because of the opportunity to walk those extra miles to win a soul. Divine Love in its preference is always to live in the will of God with no thought for the flesh.
- Atmospheric Cycles - January 30, 2018
- A Walk That Defeats the Enemy - July 14, 2017
- Don’t Be an Abstract Christian - March 18, 2017
