By faith we are judged righteous at peace with God, since it is by faith and through the Lord Jesus Christ that we have entered this stage of grace in which we can boast about; we can boast about our sufferings. This sufferings bring patience, as we know, and patience brings perseverance, and perseverance brings hope, and this hope is not deceptive, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given us. - Rom. 5:1-5 -

Suffering has been part of the human experience since man's fall into sin. - Gen. 3 - The Psalms, one-third of which are laments, include graphic descriptions of suffering. - Psalm 22 - The theme of the Book of Job is the problem of suffering and why God permits the righteous to suffer. The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible makes it clear that some suffering is the result of evil action sin in the world. This type of suffering came upon man after the FALL in the Garden of Eden. - Gen. 3:16-19 -

But some suffering is not related to the past. It is forward-looking in that it serves to shape and refine God's children. - 1Pet. 1:6-7, 5:10 - The Book of Hebrews declares that Jesus learned obedience by the things which He suffered, - Heb. 5:8 - and He was perfected through suffering. - Heb. 2:10 - Suffering has the potential of demonstrating God's power. - 2Cor. 12:7 - Those who suffered are in a position to comfort others. - 2Cor. 1:3-6 -

Suffering also helps believers to identify with Christ, which is more than suffering for Christ. Through persecution and tortures, people have suffered for the sake of Christ and His kingdom. - Phil. 1:29, 2Thess. 1:5, 2Tim. 3:12 - Saint Paul speaks of the "fellowship of His [Christ's] sufferings". - Phil. 3:10 - Believers share in the suffering of Christ in the sense that through suffering they identify with Christ. To be a disciple involves suffering like the Master, Christ as Lord and His believers as disciples are bonded even further through the experience of suffering.

Looking back to the cross, Saint Peter explained that "Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God". - 1Pet. 3:18 -

My brothers and sisters, you will always have your trials but, when they come, try to treat them as a happy privilege; you understand that your faith is only put to test to make you patient, but patience too is to have its practical results so that you will become fully-developed, complete, with nothing missing. If there is any one of you who needs wisdom, he and she must ask God, who gives to all freely and ungrudgingly; it will be given to him and her. But he and she must ask with faith, and no trace of doubt, because a person who has doubts is like the waves thrown up in the sea when the wind drives. That sort of person, in two minds, wavering between going different ways, must not expect that the Lord will give him and her anything. - James 1:2-8 -

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -