Suffering for...

Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 

Colossians 1:24 NIV

I participate in a Precepts Bible Study class at my church on Sunday mornings and we are studying the book of Colossians. I made a comment about these verses and the person who was leading asked me to review these verses next week when I lead the study. The guy next to me looked at me and said, "Good luck with that."

I'm not going to get into the "Why do good people suffer?" topic. I'm just going to point out that like Paul, we sometimes suffer and God uses that suffering to strengthen his body, the church. Paul taught the Corinthians that "just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ" (II Corinthians 1:5). Now, we usually just hear the previous verses about God comforting us so we can comfort others, but we tend to overlook the suffering that needs comfort component. The point is that God uses our suffering for the sake of his body, the church. 

Remember we are the body of Christ, the living, visible, and active extension of Christ hear on earth. I don't know if someone needs to necessarily see us suffering so much as God uses our suffering. Not everyone saw Paul get forty lashes minus one, beaten with rods, pelted with rocks or shipwrecked ( see II Corinthians 11:23ff). He was beaten and pelted because he was preaching Christ crucified and shipwrecked and imprisoned because the enemy did not want the truth of Christ to be heard. So, if you suffer, look to Christ for comfort and press on to serve the Lord with all you heart, mind and soul.    

Flourish

I am thankful for...

It is not the dead who praise the Lord,
   those who go down to the place of silence; 
it is we who extol the Lord,
both now and forevermore. 
Praise the Lord.

Psalms 115:17-18 NIV

and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 1:12-14 NIV

Moses and Aaron then went into the tent of meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.

Leviticus 9:23-24 NIV 

I woke up this morning, made my coffee, started to reading the Bible and remembering that it is Thanksgiving here in the United States of America and I asked myself what can I be thankful for. Maybe the coffee hadn't quite kicked in or I was having a bit of a sugar hangover from the Oreo churros my youngest son and I made last night. I could easily say I was thankful for my salvation, my wonderful wife and children, my job, my friends and outside of my back and allergies, my health. 

But I asked myself, "What am I really thankful for?" I want to think about it. I would like to ask you, "What are you really thankful for?" I would truly like to hear and glorify God in the comments section. 

Thanks and have a blessed and thankful Thanksgiving!

The Lord Remembers

God Turns

Psalm 114:7-8

God is so good, so gracious and awesome in his love for us. He says he will never leave us or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6,8; Joshua 1:5; Hebrews 13:5). His presence in our lives is both comforting and empowering. We will go through battles. We will fight the good fight. We will walk through the desert, the wilderness and valley of the shadow of death. But, he will be with us. 

But God does not just get us over. He turns rocks into pools and hard rocks into springs. In Exodus 17 the Israelites were in the desert and without water. (I won't go into the lesson that they complained to Moses rather than cried out to God here but if you're complaining rather than crying out; stop complaining and cry out to God.) The Lord had Moses strike the rock and water came out. Think about that. You can't dig for water in a rock. But God turns things that are not into things that are. 

You may be up against a rock, even a hard rock (on a side note: am I the rock, the hard rock that God must strike to bring springs of living water into my marriage or family?). Seek God. His presence will be with you. In his time he will turn that rock, that hard rock into a pool, even a spring. 

Light Dawns

Reminder: Christ is Supreme

And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 

Colossians 1:18 NIV

This is just a reminder as we head into the weekend, Thanksgiving and the Christmas season: In everything Christ has the supremacy. This is not Christ should be supreme, Christ is supreme. 

Paul was teaching the truth about who Jesus Christ is; the head of the body, the church; the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything he might have the supremacy. He was not telling them to put Jesus first, he was reminding them that Jesus is first. Christ is supreme. 

Christ did not die on the cross just to die, he died to rise again and conquer sin and death and to rescue us from the dominion of darkness and bring us into his kingdom, redeeming us and forgiving us of our sins. Christ is supreme. 

So, I encourage you to remember, rest and rejoice in the truth that in everything Christ has the supremacy.