Question:
What do punishment, persecution, and sacrifice have in common ?
Answer:
Suffering
PUNISHMENT
Suffering, and it’s your fault
PERSECUTION
Suffering, and it’s not your fault
SACRIFICE
Suffering, and it’s your choice
More on sacrifice—like a foreign word in our everyday lives.
Suffering by choice, really ?
SACRIFICE
— Giving, till it hurts
— Living beyond my comfort level
— Suffering
— Self-dying
— Self-denying
— Self-drowning
— Self-humbling
— Self-crucifying
— Self-surrendering to follow Jesus, with consequences for saying His name
— Self-acceptance of identity “in the fellowship of His suffering”
— Self-application of His promises—many troubles + deliverance
— Self-contentment, even courage, because Jesus “overcame the world”.
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him from them allI.”
PUNISHMENT
Suffering, and it’s your fault
- Jesus actually promised suffering for His followers, and deliverance.
- But He did not promise to save us from all the evil in the world and the consequences of our sins.
PERSECUTION
Suffering, and it’s not your fault
- Jesus said repeatedly that we are blessed and should rejoice when people do all kinds of bad things to us BECAUSE WE FOLLOW HIM.
SACRIFICE
Suffering, and it’s your choice
- Jesus called his disciples to leave everything and follow him.
- He told a rich, young man to sell all, give it to the poor, and follow Him (for riches in heaven).
- When God told Ananias to baptize Saul (terrorist persecutor), He said, “I will show him (Paul) how much he must suffer for My Name.”
And that, dear friends, is “the rest of the story” if you follow Jesus.
Read your Bible ! ! !
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