Today's Devotional

March 23, 2005

Subject:  Fellowship With The Cross Of Christ - Pain

Philippians 3:10 - "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

Hebrews 12:2 - "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Day 3 of how we "Fellowship With The Cross of Christ" by living as He lived, brings up an issue that is near and dear to each and every one of us.  The subject of pain.

Pain can come in many forms.  Regardless of what form the pain takes, we have the ability in Christ to endure it.  How?  Well just as Christ did.  The crucifixion and the steps leading up to it were quite obviously painful for Christ, both emotionally and physically.  Remember His Father had turned His back on His Only Begotten Son and then the world painfully mistreated Him all the way up until His death on the cross.  That was real pain.  However, Jesus was able to endure the pain because of something He did that we quite often don't do.  He didn't just stop at the pain, He saw the joy.

Our problem is that we often see pain in one dimension, but the truth is that if God is true in Romans 8:28 when He says that "all things work together for good..." then pain isn't just the hurt and harm that occurs to us, but there is also a dimension of God's providence  working things out for our good.  When we see pain in both dimensions, then like Christ, we can endure for the "joy set before us."

Today let's not just complain about the pain, let's praise Him for the storm and the good that He is doing in the midst of the rain.

  Carlen