When I played baseball in high school, I put my blood, sweat, and tears into three years and left everything I had on the field. As a sophomore, I found out how much work I had to do and I started immediately after the season ended. I worked for the final two years of my career and made myself the player I was because of all of the work I put in. It wasn't easy getting up at 7:30am in the summertime when I could be doing other things with friends to go to the field to throw, hit, work on blocking balls in the dirt, working on receiving, throwing down to 2nd, and even running poles, but I knew what I had to do, and I did it. All of my hard work and "suffering" paid off and I got recognition for it by being selected to the All-District team in a district with teams with guys getting drafted and a pretty stout group of catchers. Was I as talented as some of those guys? No, but I made myself the player I was because of the work I put in and how bad I wanted it. I paid the price for what I wanted and attained it through my suffering. Do we do this for Jesus? Do we want to? Those are some tough questions aren't they?
I heard this quote from my pastor at my church a couple of weeks ago and it resonated with me and has been something that I think about every single day. He said, "Christ suffered and died on the cross for us and our sins, and when we become Christians, Christ stops suffering for us and we begin to suffer for Him". That is something that hits you hard. If you really think about that statement, it should ring true if you are saved by the blood of Jesus and are a Christian.
So what do I mean by all of this? And what do I mean when I say, suffering for Him? Jesus suffered and died on the cross for each and every one of my sins, past, present, and future, along with yours, and everyone else's in this world! Yes, the entire world! He took a near death beating and had to carry His own cross to a place where He was going to hang on that cross and die. For US! He knew that long before it was ever going to happen, yet he loved us so much that He endured all the pain and suffering for all of our sins. He was beaten brutally, gashed open, given a crown of thorns, mocked, and spat on, covered in His own blood, nails driven through His hands and His feet on to a cross to die for us, and did nothing about it. Think about that for a minute. Could we endure such pain and suffering? This is what Jesus did for us. What should we do for Him?
Romans 8:17 says, and if children, also heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ-seeing that we suffer with Him so that we may be glorified with Him. Also, 1Peter 3:17 says For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. These two verses, and I am sure there are others, explain the point I am trying to make here. When you choose to follow Christ and live for Him, He no longer suffers for us, we begin to suffer for Him and His sake. Choosing to live for Christ and becoming a Christian is when this happens. We take up our cross and do our very best to live for Him and do His will. That doesn't mean that it will be easy. There are going to be trials and tribulations along the way. There will be trials and tribulations, I can promise you that. I have had many and I am sure that there will be many more. Things aren't always going to go our way and things aren't always going to work out the way we want them to. We will be persecuted, lose friends and family members, boyfriends, girlfriends, and suffer countless trials and all for our Lord Jesus Christ and His will. When you live for Christ and suffer and have trials in your life, that's when you know you are a Christian. Christ didn't say that things would be easier when choosing to follow Him, but you are guaranteed a home in heaven when He comes to bring us all home. So, let me ask you, are you suffering for Him or is He still suffering for you? Only you know the answer.
Suggested Reading
1Peter 3:17
Romans 8:17
Mark 8:34-38
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