Praise the Lord for this last
Friday of February. As we journey with Jesus to Jerusalem during this Lenten
Season, we reflect on His suffering that also shed grace and light on our
suffering, too. I was visiting with two women yesterday. Each one's husband died
prematurely. One died in a car accident. The other died at home. They shared how
the Lord has granted them hope and assurance. My mom, who is 85 years old, is
very frail and does not and can not talk and is very immobile, needing 24/7
care. I visited a man this week, who has a brain tumor and is under hospice
care. His wife shared in and with tears how the Lord is with them as wife and
husband during these dark days.
It is written
in Romans
5:1-5, "Therefore, since we have been justified through
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we
now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we
also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces
perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not
disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy
Spirit, whom he has given us.
“Suffering” has
very much become a dirty word in the vocabulary of faith. It casts a negative
shadow on the experience of believing, but suffering is a key part of the Bible,
especially in the New Testament, where the words “suffer” or “suffering” occur
86 times. God doesn’t cause our suffering, but I believe God
can work through it to bring about resurrection. As Jesus said, “I tell you the
truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a
single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” Through our suffering, God
can bring about new life greater than we ever imagined.
J.V. Cheney
once said, “The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears.” It is our
tendency to dread suffering, to run from it, to avoid it at all costs, but life
is simply full of too many troubles to avoid it for very long. In the play
“The Shadowlands,” about the life of C.S. Lewis, Lewis says, “We are like
blocks of stone out of which the sculptor carves the forms of men. The blows of
the chisel, which hurt us so much, are what make us perfect. The suffering in
the world is not the failure of God’s love; it is that love in
action.”
In Christ,
Brown
Those of you who live in the region,
please join us for our Weekly TV outreach, on
Time Warner Cable Channel 4, 7:00
PM.A Special Saturday Evening of worship, Testimony, preaching, and fellowship banquet will be held:
Location: First United Methodist Church, 53 McKinley Ave., Endicott.
Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church, 128 Maple Drive, Endicott
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Time: 5:30 PM
Speaker: Dave Hettinger.
Dinner Menu: Chicken with home made rolls and desserts.
Chef: Joe Walker
For Information, Call 607-748-6329 or 607-748-1358
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