It’s time to “gear up” again. It’s Sunday, and we attended services this morning. Each time we do that, I feel like I am “gearing up” for worship. That’s not a bad thing. I don’t want to go there with an attitude or heaviness of heart (or mind). But it does take energy and attention to release the attitudes and shun the loads of the week.
Now I need to do that again. I’ll be teaching the small group that meets at the building instead of attending my own small group meeting. I have no clue 30 minutes before we start, what I will be teaching. It should be something relevant to this morning’s services.
We talked about shedding the weight of suffering. Not that we should long to never suffer, but to rid ourselves of two notions, 1. That we shouldn’t have to suffer if we’re a Christian, and 2. That suffering is bad.
Those thoughts are rather foreign to us coddled and pampered Americans. But the Bible is clear. If we are God’s person, we will, at sometime or another, suffer for the cause. And the Bible is equally clear that suffering, as my dad would say, “builds character.”
The Bible is also clear that God ordains suffering. Amos 3:6 and Isaiah 45:7 pretty much say just that.
These are hard sayings, and there is no easy answer. “I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised.”
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