God has blessed me with so much. I am so blessed I fear that I have been blinded by the blessings.
Presently, I own a $150 (ESV Study) Bible, a $500 laptop (and at least $400 worth of other electronics), a $1,300 bed, four guitars—together worth $3,000, another $3,000 worth of books and misc. furniture, and a $17,000 car.
In addition to this $25,350, God has put me in a wonderful $630/month apartment, provides more than enough food for me to eat every day and keeps me connected through a nifty 70/month cell plan that has never gone unpaid (thanks dad).
What’s more than all of this is the incredible woman, Lexie, whom God has chosen for me to marry and the church (Treasuring Christ Church) that He has put us into.
I am truly BLINDED by God’s blessings. I say blinded because I’m discontent with all of it. All of it. And not in a heavenly minded spiritual way.
If not once a day, then certainly once a week, I find myself unhappy with what I’ve been given and desiring what I do not have.
In my mind I know from God’s Word that He is a giver of good gifts (Matt. 7:11), so whatever I do not have would not be good for me to have, but my lustful heart rebels and distracts me from my abundant blessings with an abundance of distractions that are cleverly coaxed from being distant wants to immediate needs over time and regular wanting.
This is the war of Rom. 7:23; 2nd Cor. 10:3-5; Gal. 5:16-17; James 4:1; and 1st Pet. 2:11.
This is the war between the spirit in me that has been made alive by Christ and the sin in me that possess my flesh which thus must be mortified (put to death) by Christ.
The solution, the death blow if you will, to this war is plainly explained to us in Rom. 8:3-17. However, after reading this passage, 3 questions come to me. Please read this passage before proceeding.
1st: How do I know I’m putting to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit? Perhaps I’m being pure in my body by legalistic strivings, thinking I’m pleasing God because I’m “pure,” when I’m actually disgusting God with my pride, even though I don’t realize I’m being proud because I’m so focused on being “pure.” This is how I once lived. I don’t want to live that way again, as a white washed tomb full of bones, void of life. So, how can I know?
2nd: Verse 16 seems to be an affirming verse, but it only confuses me more. What does it mean for the Holy Spirit himself to bear witness with my spirit that I am a child of God? Is this a knowledge or a feeling or neither or both? If I don’t “know” this or “feel” this, am I lost?
3rd: Verse 17 seems to contain a very exciting assurance with a very detrimental qualification. I am an heir of God and a fellow heir with Christ PROVIDED I suffer with Christ IN ORDER that I may also be glorified with Him. What!? So, in summary, according to the Bible here, to be glorified with Christ I must put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit and then the Spirit will bear witness with my spirit that I’m a child of God and an heir of God with Christ, but only if I SUFFER with Christ. What!?
This greatly concerns me. I have NEVER suffered with Christ. Like I said above, I’m so blessed I’ve been blinded by it. God’s abundant provision for me has thus far been so consistent that I actually get upset when I’m hungry and have nothing to eat (as though I can’t DRIVE [not walk] to the store and get something). I have gone weeks without a single pain and upon the first minor headache I sincerely feel put out and commence to praying desperately that the headache would be taken away while simultaneously taking whatever medicine I can in case God’s will is for the headache to remain. After all, I think to myself, God really wouldn’t want me to suffer.
I am as far from suffering with Christ as Peter Singer, but I call myself a Christian. I really believe I’m saved from God’s wrath and yet I’ve actually THANKED God for delivering me from suffering. However, unless Scripture is wrong here, it is only by suffering with Christ that I will be an heir with Him. What’s disturbing is that this makes perfect sense and in no way contradicts the rest of Scripture. I was just blinded to it before now. Blinded by the blessings.
However, now I see clearly the sufferings of Christ that are mine to endure that I may be glorified with Him. No, they won’t save me, but they will reveal that I’m being saved. As I asked, now you may be asking: In this culture that we live in, where food is never hard to find and beds are always waiting, what suffering can we possibly endure? To which I answer: The Cross! but, be not blinded by how it’s been made common by empty utterances. Hear it anew! The Cross! The Cross! The Cross! and be not numbed from all these past years of reading it but never SEEING it! See it now!
The Cross of Christ is where and how we share WITH Christ IN His sufferings! HIS sufferings.
Paul demonstrates this truth in Gal. 2:19-20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Keep looking for the Cross of Christ in your life! I pray you see it and RUN to it! Together we can wake up every morning, slide out of our warm beds, DENY ourselves the breakfast that our tummies are grumbling for (because they know that foods just there, in the pantry), and bow low before King Jesus in prayer. As I mentioned before, this cannot save us, but it will reveal that we are being saved.
In addition, we can DENY ourselves that strange satisfaction of watching TV while waking up, and instead partake of a new satisfaction of reading the Bible while waking up. Oh, what’s that? The Bible puts you to sleep if you’re not totally awake before you read it? I suppose you have yet to read Galatians 5:24 then:
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
And wow, is sleep one heck of a desire. Now, I understand that it’s also a need, but I also understand how our warm soft beds can easily make sleep more of a need than it really is. Let’s be honest with ourselves, because God already knows if we’re giving Him our all or not. Be warned: God is supremely more aware of your laziness than you are so look to the Cross! Wake up!
Rom. 6:6, “Our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.”
Looking over your life, can you see a pattern of sin? Can you see an enslavement to sin? If we’re not taking up the Cross of Christ and embracing the death of our old self (instead of fighting that death), then we will remain enslaved to sin and NOT in Christ. Yeah, and that means being lost and going to Hell, but what’s sad is that that little detail should be the last of our concerns. Knowing that God has revealed Himself in a book that you probably have more than two copies of in your house and rarely study to know Him should concern us more. Why? Because it’s a sign!
Rom. 6:21-22, “When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death.”
Being enslaved to sin frees you from being righteous, but the things you say and do as a result of being enslaved to sin produces words and actions that reveal that you have no place in Christ for you are doing what Christ despises: failing to worship God and successfully worshiping yourself.
A thorough study of Romans 6 can explain this much better than I can. If you haven’t noticed, I’ve digressed. Sorry about that.
So, back on point: How can I (an American Christian whose basic needs and general wants are met on a daily basis) suffer with Christ in order that I may also be glorified with Christ?
The answer is terribly familiar. Jesus is recorded saying in Luke 9:22-26, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.’”
A quick clarification: Why does the Son of God call Himself the “Son of Man?” The answer is found in Daniel 7:13-14, “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”
In light of this and keeping Christ’s words in Luke 9 in mind, understand Colossians 3:2-17, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
And finally, consider the beginning and ending of Hebrews 12. Verses 1-2 read: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” and verses 28-29 concludes with: “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe [godly fear], for our God is a consuming fire.”
So, to summarize everything: one can only be an heir of God (implying a receiver of the inheritance of salvation) with Christ through suffering with Christ and one can only suffer with Christ through following Christ to the extent of taking up the Cross and dying with Him to this world to be made alive with Him unto God. Even an American (like me) who has practically everything he/she needs everyday and rarely experiences suffering can suffer in this way through the continual denial of self and a continual emulation of Christ’s life and obedience to His commands.
For the world, the idea of suffering is negative, but for Christians, it is positive. Now we should know why. Now we can rejoice in it. And again I say REJOICE!
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