So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest . . . Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. (Hebrews 5:5-8)
Jesus humbled Himself, and He became our High Priest. He glorified the Father by receiving His sufferings willingly and submitting to His will. What a remarkable relationship they shared -- so much so, that the death of the Son brought glory and praise to the Father. Could the Lord be calling us to die to ourselves as Jesus did? Perhaps the Lord allows just enough stress in our lives to drive us to our knees with cries of brokenness and submission. It may feel like defeat, but the child of God prays to the Father who is able to save us from death, and to bring us joy for every tear we shed. And truly, the Lord is glorified by the wonderful service we render to Him and the saints in spite our sufferings!
Every Christian must make peace with the place suffering is to play in our lives. The sufferings of Christ are beyond our comprehension, yet we are called to comprehend and receive them! This is a difficult and exquisite truth -- we must die to live, and we must be crucified with Christ if we wish to receive resurrection life. The Lord will only rise in us when we lay our lives down, and He will only fill us when we are empty. If we say we see, we will remain blind, and our earthly riches only make us poor. These are the things we come to understand once we set our hearts toward heaven. This is how we learn obedience, and how we become like Jesus –through suffering.
This is the Gospel, yet these words are uncommon. We will either die in our sin, or die to our sin through faith in Jesus Christ. The word says that He will raise up those to be and dwell with Him for all eternity! Thank you for helping us to rightly see suffering, as glory to God in Jesus Christ.
ReplyDeleteThank you Pastor Eric.
ReplyDeleteThis is the Truth.
Once I recognize this as the reality..that Jesus lived and died without expectations.
My dilemma is, I think maybe something else different will happen and I won't have to suffer so much. Well, that isn't how Jesus lived and died. So if I want to be like Him..I will partake in His sufferings.