Thoughts for another day

July 30, 2008

Today's verse: 1 Pet. 4:13. But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. (KJV)
(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

In the past few years that I’ve been in ever so small a Ministry, I have seen and observed many things; some to my delight and some, dismay (this of course pertains to me too). I always assign the things that dismay to our imperfections that turn us into unlikely Christians by which we degrade people or are vengeful or proud and what have you.

Most of us, and that again includes me, are ready to take up high and exalted positions in the Kingdom. Preach? Aha, well we all want to stand in front of people and thunder and stomp our feet and bring down God’s power upon the faithful gathered there! As for praying and laying on of hands, we would like to be known as God’s ambassadors and lay our hands upon as many people as possible and pray and expect God to answer our prayers; how else will people call us again, no?

But, there is one thing I haven’t observed and that is the willingness to walk the talk. At our convenience, we go to pray for people, but if there is an emergency, someone else can go because it is inconvenient to us. If some brother or sister is in a financial crunch, we don’t have even a few dollars to give them and we tell them, ‘Sister/brother, don’t worry, God will take care of you, eh?’ As to going out of the way to do something for people, oh, the oft repeated line, ‘I don’t have the time’ comes into play, no? As to fasting or self denial, well what can I say, we always have excuses not to do such things, after all, our Lord has suffered for us and undergone pain for us, so what need we have to suffer or undergo pain? What hypocrites we are, aren’t we?

Now look at our above verse, Peter says, ‘you share in the sufferings of Christ…’ not ‘may share’ or some other prerogative. Our point for reflection today would be, am I ready to suffer for Christ? Am I ready to stand up for Him, no matter what the cost? If we are, then there is a guarantee: when Christ’s glory will be revealed, we shall share and be glad in exceeding joy. My brother/sister remember, in the Kingdom of God, the adage works very well…no pain, no gain. And today, the Master is looking for those who are willing to take up the Cross and follow Him. Are we ready?