Suffering

I greet you in Jesus’s name! It is Tuesday morning, 12th July 2022, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

In Mark 8:34, Jesus said:

“Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” 

Acts 9:16, about Paul, He said:

“For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

Who said it was going to be easy being a follower of Jesus Christ? Who is your biggest enemy? Who is my biggest enemy? It is not the devil. No, he is a defeated foe. I will tell you who our biggest enemy is - it is ourselves. One thing that always saddens me, is self-preservation. As long as everything is going well for me, I don’t mind. It is such an ugly thing. Do you remember that epic movie called Titanic? That mighty ship that they said could never sink and on its maiden voyage, it sank in a matter of minutes, down to the bottom of the icy Atlantic Ocean. We hear countless stories of brave people who denied themselves - men who were safely seated in a lifeboat with their life jackets on with their wives and children, getting out of the boat again before it was lowered into the sea, and giving their place in the lifeboat to some child or some old lady.  Those are the stories that stir my soul.  

One of my heroes is a young American evangelist by the name of Jim Elliot. He was a missionary who gave his life up for the lost. He was murdered by Indians in the jungle at a mere 29 years old. He left behind a young wife and a baby daughter. But do you know what he said? He said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” I want to say to you today that we need to consider suffering. Let's look at Paul - the Lord said he was going to suffer, and he did. He suffered more than all the apostles, but what could he say towards the end of his life?  

Philippians 1:21, he said:

“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” 

You cannot frighten a Christian with Heaven. If we live, we live with Jesus, if we die, we go home to be with Jesus. It is a win-win situation!

Today, remember, it is all about Him and He will see us through.
God bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.