...continued
Statements about who God is:
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Clearly, at least one of the reasons in God’s ineffable plans for our suffering is that when we suffer through an event, our experience will enable us to build up others in the household of faith; because we face a trial and endure it by God’s grace we can admonish others to do the same. We do this much in the same way Christ endured the suffering of His body and spirit through temptation so He could identify with us. As the writer of the book of Hebrew says, “4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” How much more can Christ sympathize with those who actually give in to their temptation, when He (being the God-Man) never gave in, nor could He, therefore He endured temptation to its highest degree, yet He did not fall. We endure trials and suffer, and we are tempted to sin while we endure those events, however, we may fall and give in to temptation. We can then identify with others in their suffering, just as Christ identified with us.
Statements about who God is:
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Clearly, at least one of the reasons in God’s ineffable plans for our suffering is that when we suffer through an event, our experience will enable us to build up others in the household of faith; because we face a trial and endure it by God’s grace we can admonish others to do the same. We do this much in the same way Christ endured the suffering of His body and spirit through temptation so He could identify with us. As the writer of the book of Hebrew says, “4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” How much more can Christ sympathize with those who actually give in to their temptation, when He (being the God-Man) never gave in, nor could He, therefore He endured temptation to its highest degree, yet He did not fall. We endure trials and suffer, and we are tempted to sin while we endure those events, however, we may fall and give in to temptation. We can then identify with others in their suffering, just as Christ identified with us.
Whether it be by the grace God delivered which allowed us to overcome temptation in those trials, or the grace of God’s merciful forgiveness which we experienced during the temptation and after our sin, we can empathize with others who are presently afflicted with a similar suffering, or we can encourage persons who have fallen to hear the gospel once again and get up; our suffering is for that purpose at least.
Psalm 27:1
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
We so often find ourselves in worry when we fear another’s authority over our lives. By God’s providence we find ourselves having to submit daily to earthly authorities who have been appointed by God Himself. Sometimes these rulers aren’t Godly and can cause us to fear for our future well-being, but God is, nonetheless, sovereign over even their godlessness and is thereby sanctifying us. The psalmist proclaims God’s work in his salvation and asks the rhetorical question, “therefore, how can I fear anyone but the Lord?” The Lord is my mighty fortress and the guard of my life; no one can take it unless He permits. Meditating on this truth, that God is our stronghold (not that He always protects us from discomfort) in whose hands our lives are hid, can help us to trust Him even when it appears that He has left us to fend for ourselves.
to be continued...
1 comment:
Great work here Jason, even for an ivory tower theolgoain dabbling in practical theology :)
One quote jumped out in your part 2
"By God’s providence we find ourselves having to submit daily to earthly authorities who have been appointed by God Himself. Sometimes these rulers aren’t Godly and can cause us to fear for our future well-being, but God is, nonetheless, sovereign over even their godlessness and is thereby sanctifying us."
This is going to be huge for the people of God in the upcoming election. Everyone is scared to death of Hillary or Obama, I think that many people will genuinely worry about what might take place if one of them is to take office. This is a great reminder that our citizenship is in heaven, and our President is sovereign and immutable. If God is for us who can be against us??!!
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