Suffering and Comfort-DD 3/8/11

"For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ." 2 Cor 1:5

When the apostle Paul penned these words to the church at Corinth some 2000 years ago, he was speaking from an experience that is completely foreign to us. We have the ability to worship our God in relative ease and comfort and are not often challenged due to our belief. In fact, we spend more time challenging each other on the nuances and disputable matters of religion than we do celebrating the unity proscribed in scripture. That said, consider some of the things suffered by Paul:

• "Are they servants of Christ? — I speak as if insane — I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches." 2 Cor 11:23-28

Beloved, this narrative goes on. Paul knew what it was to endure for the cause of Christ. In fact the Lord himself told him that he would suffer many things. Today, we have about as much appreciation for that as our children do for the struggles of living in a segregated society with its restrictions on everything from water fountains and bathrooms to education and jobs. They simply do not think about it because they do not have to endure it.

We must never lose touch with our history or, as the saying goes, we will be doomed to repeat it. Because we do not know the suffering, we do not realize the comfort. We are so well taken care of, we take our lives of relative ease for granted and then fall back to that from which we have been saved. The remedy? Study, reflect, remember, serve and praise.

Loving Like Jesus,

Lee