Christ's suffering reveals the heart of God.

Christ's Suffering shows the true heart and full nature of God i.e., the kind of being He is.

And what kind of being is that? He is not only the Almighty Lion, but He is also the lowly, meek Lamb who gave himself up to be slaughtered. Though being a sacrificial Lamb was only a short-term condition (with long-term effect), to be able to enter into and emrace that condition reveals the full nature of God. In other words, what moved him to take on human form and become the Lamb of God is still a vital and ongoing part of his being. He is still meek and lowly at heart. 

If you want to understand what true power looks like, look at the cross, i.e., the full spectrum of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. True power is power to overcome evil and death by fully embracing and overcoming it and using it for good.

There is no power, overcoming, conquering, and resurrection without weakness, suffering, pain, and death.

The greatness and power of God were best displayed in Christ's suffering and willingly and deliberately submitting to it. He allowed Himself to be fully conquered and broken by others infinitely less powerful than Him. Then He raised Himself back to life to be exalted to the highest position of glory, honor, and authority by His Father. Life and honor came through death and shame.

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a ¹cross.

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” - Phil 2:5-11 ESV

https://bible.com/bible/59/php.2.5-11.ESV

Now He extends to us, who bear His image, the offer of that same resurrected life i.e., a non-stop eternal life of bliss and delight, forever free of pain, suffering, and death. Bliss and delight are increased through relief from suffering and death. 

The irony is this process was initiated by the Almighty Creator and Sustainer of all things 1st. God doesn't ask anything of us that He didn't Himself go through 1st - and to an infinitely greater degree than we ever have or will.

The nature of this power not only has real-world application for us in the face of our present pain and suffering. But it also says (reveals) something very significant about God as a person.

The greatest demonstration of power is the power to humble oneself. God, the greatest, most significant, and valuable being of all, did this so He could restore the powerless, the broken, and the helpless, i.e those who can not restore themselves.

The way God restored the broken and helpless was by submitting Himself to being broken and helpless. The Almighty Creator submitted Himself to total weakness and loss so we would not have to i.e., in order for us to be delivered from weakness and loss, He fully submitted to this Himself. 

If we are in Christ and He is in us, His doing this for us becomes the means and motivation (power) by which we can do this for others.

How does God minister to us through our suffering? In and through His own. His suffering enables him to restore us and minister to us in our suffering. His weakness empowers him to sympathize with ours and more effectively minister to us in our weakness.

The ultimate triumph (power) over evil is when evil happens, God is still in control and uses it for good.

“this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless (ἀνόμων - without law, wicked) men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. ” - From Peters message to those present after the Spirit had descended on His followers at Pentecost - Acts 2:23-24 ESV

https://bible.com/bible/59/act.2.23-24.ESV

_____________________________________

¹Crucifixion was the most humiliating form of death at that time. 

²We fully appreciate the bliss of Heaven when it is contrasted with the shadow of death i.e. the darkness cast over us at a loved one's passing away.

When we are fully glorified, Heaven is where the shadow of death, decay, and corruption will no longer exist.

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”” - Rev 21:1, 4 ESV

https://bible.com/bible/59/rev.21.1-4.ESV

As His child, whatever loss we experience in this life is ultimately for our gain in the next i.e., because of what Christ did for us, we can never lose as God's children no matter what we go through.

We may experience great loss and pain in this life, but we can never experience complete and ultimate loss as God's children, but only total victory, because Christ achieved this first by coming back to life. Death does not have the last word, life does!

For a fuller discussion on participating in the fellowship of Christ's sufferings, click here. 

When things go wrong

What are things that have gone wrong in your life that you hold against God and may still have a grudge against Him about?

Before reading the article below, take some time to reflect and list out ¹losses you may have experienced or are experiencing. 

Is it a...

*Failed (or failing) Marriage
*Family unit shattered because of divorce
*Business loss or failure

*Betrayal by someone you trusted

*Premature or unexpected death of a loved one or close friend
*Decline in health (life-threatening sickness, hearing or memory loss, aging, or overall physical decline)

*Anything not listed that applies to you

Often when it looks like things are not working, but breaking down and going wrong, God is still doing good things, often the biggest and best things. 

How is that possible? It sounds backwards. What is it about pain or loss that is actually good or even best? Is it improved circumstances like Joseph experienced below?

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. ” - Gen 50:20 ESV

https://bible.com/bible/59/gen.50.20.ESV

Sometimes God is bringing about a miraculous outcome circumstantially (like Joseph) after a period of suffering. But not always or automatically. When bad things happen and go wrong, and we experience the opposite of Joseph's experience - i.e., circumstances not getting better - how is this best? After all, we are told that all things work together for good for those who love God. 

As a teenager, Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers (betrayal). Then he wound up in jail through no fault of His own and was forgotten more than once, but eventually was appointed to the second-in-command of the greatest nation in the world at that time. 

The problem with the Joseph story, however (or rather how it is sometimes interpreted) is that many incorrectly assume the good that Joseph was referring to above is only better circumstances because that is what happened to him. We limit the good only to positive circumstances, e.g., Joseph being in a position of great power and influence to keep many from starving. When we do, we will miss the ultimate good God is always doing when circumstances do not improve. 

Our ultimate good is our increased union with God through the suffering we go through and our partaking more deeply in His love as a result. Why? So our relationship with Him deepens, and our experience of His love increases. And also so we can be more effective for Him and become a greater means by which others are drawn to Him.

Our greatest need is not always having our circumstances "fixed" but rather a greater union and relationship with God Himself and our partaking of and participation in His infinite love more fully i.e. it is more important to experience more of God in His infinite love than to experience improved circumstances.

Some of us may never experience improved circumstances from the trials of life. But all of us will experience a greater union and a stronger relationship and connection with God when we trust him through our struggles and pain.

For this reason we can always be grateful for all our struggles, no matter what the outcome or form they take - i.e., improved circumstances or not - or what causes them to occur - i.e., my poor choices or another's. Because, when we trust God, they become the means of drawing us closer to Him and our entering more fully into His love. For this, we all can (and should) be grateful. Otherwise, we will be defeated and risk becoming angry and bitter and miss the primary good He seeks to bring about in and through us.

• How do we advance in pain? Click here
• How do we discover God's love in our pain? click here
• For a further discussion on the primary role of pain, click here
• For a further discussion of how God uses evil for our good, click here...and here.
• The greater the evil, the greater the opportunity for healing/grace; click here.
• For a discussion on the key lesson from the book of Job, click here.
• For a discussion on the value of paradox, click here.
• For a discussion on the necessity of humility, click here

__________________________________

Footnotes:

¹When you contemplate any losses you have experienced or are currently going through, what do you feel? Desperation, sadness, anger, humility? If anger, you have yet to fully trust God. Ask Him to reveal His love to you, so you can let go of it and allow His love to flow again. 

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 

As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:35-39 ESV

https://bible.com/bible/59/rom.8.35-39.ESV

Doing vs Being

Doing is binding and enslaving. Being is freeing. If a positive sense of who we are (our identity) is based on what we do, we will never achieve enough to gain the long-term sense of well-being (value, worth, love) that we need and were designed for.

We need perfect and infinite love because, as bearers of God's image, we were designed to be loved perfectly and infinitely, by the perfect, infinite God of love. We can never secure this for (or by) ourselves because we will never live perfectly enough to earn His approval and love. Nor does any other creature offer this kind of love. To seek perfect infinite love from finite persons or things doesn't work and will ultimately disappoint us. So we ¹should not seek it from them, for only the Creator loves us in this way.

The good news is we don't have to, because Christ did this for us. As His infinitely cherished children, we are called to simply abide, dwell, or live in His perfect love. Only as we abide in God's love, perfectly secured for us by Christ, do we become loving. The more we abide in His perfect love (by faith), the more loving we become.

What is the nature of being or abiding? It is believing and receiving (claiming) the offer of a perfect standing with and before God, earned for us by Christ's efforts, not ours.

Being (abiding) in His love leads to doing. Doing can never lead to being; i.e., being loving never leads to being fully loved. Being fully loved leads to being loving. "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit (gets much done), for apart from me you can do nothing... As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love" i.e. claim this reality (truth) and own it - Jesus speaking to his disciples at the last supper. John 15:4-6,9

Where the confusion comes in is that faithful obedience (i.e., doing) does result in - is the fruit of - our experiencing God's love more fully. But this is on our side of the relationship. Our doing - obedience - does not cause God to love us more. His love for us is no greater or less because of what we do (or don't do), simply because it's based on who we are as a bearer of God's image and poured out on us because of what Christ did for us by bearing our condemnation and removing it from us and also assigning His righteous life to us as if we lived it.

Because we are in Christ, the Father's love is fixed and fully (perfectly and permanently) set upon us, and poured out in our hearts by His Spirit as we trust Him in all His love. It never stops or subsides. Own this! Stand on it! Abide in it!

This is not only for our sake but for Christ's as well. For God to love us in this way honors Christ and the infinite pain He submitted to in order to reconcile and unite us to His Father. Live - dwell, abide - in this reality.

For a further discussion, click here

For a discussion on bearing much fruit, click here For a discussion on acting before being, click here

____________________________________

Footnotes:

¹this does not mean that God cannot demonstrate His love to us through another creature or by His creation. These are some main ways He does so. However, we must recognize that others are the means by which He loves us. So indirectly, it is still God's love we experience through these.

No one can love the way God loves (sacrificially and totally other-focused) until they are loved by God first. They are loving only because of His love. They become more loving as they abide more in His love.

Do you want more of God?

Do you want more of God in your life? Then you must attempt great things for Him. 

We will not fully engage with God and all that He is until we fully engage with what God does and is doing. 

What kind of great things? The things God has stirred in your heart through his word that honor Him.

Doing great things requires great strength. Great strength requires great faith in God who gives us the strength necessary to accomplish things we could never do on our own. We engage God by faith and, as a result, experience Him more fully.

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” - Romans 10:17 

Great (i.e., supernatural) strength comes only from God. We are merely jars of clay that hold great treasure. But we are also the only jars that can display that treasure in the way we were made to and nothing else in creation can. Only we are like God (in His image). Nothing else is. 

If you want more of God, pursue great things for Him.

“And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit (who empowers us to live for God) to those who ask him!”” - Luke 11:9-11, 13 ESV

“I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.” - Proverbs 8:17 ESV

“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” - Jeremiah 29:13 ESV

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. ” - John 15:7-8 ESV

Exposing our distrust

Jesus seeks to root out distrust from our heart. How? By exposing it and showing us where we don't trust Him.

But this is a painful process. Why would He do this and allow us to go through the pain of seeing our flaws and failures? Doesn't He love us?

God is not trying to make us feel bad, shame us, or condemn us for not being faithful and loving Him more - i.e. according or equal to His loveliness. He is seeking to get us to abandon our distrust of Him so we will experience Him even more in all His love. Our distrust clouds our ability to see Him clearly and enter into His infinite love more fully.

He is not exposing us because he's mad or upset with us; just the opposite. It is so we will draw nearer to him to experience more of Him.

God's love is already perfectly set upon us and determined by Christ's faithfulness, not ours. But experiencing His love more fully depends on us and how faithfully we pursue Him.

Peter denying Christ three times and then Christ engaging him afterward to feed His sheep is a classic example of this process of exposing our distrust of God, so we might follow Him more faithfully. It helps us to more clearly see how much we need Him and how dependent we are on Him to be more faithful.

For a discussion on how we must first see God's love to acknowledge our unfaithfulness, click here

Does God send people to hell?

What makes heaven a place of bliss? It is the delight we will experience in God and by being in His presence.

But if we do not delight in Him and His presence now, what makes us think we will in ¹eternity?

It is not as if a switch suddenly flips on, filling us with delight the moment we stand before Him, after a lifetime spent with that switch turned off.  

For those who wanted nothing to do with God—and even despised Him—all their lives, being in His presence will not be a delight. It will be a shock and fearfully dreadful. This will be especially true when they realize that God gave ²clear indication of His desire for a loving relationship with them and did everything necessary to extend His love, yet they rejected both it and Him by rejecting Christ.

Requiring someone who spent a lifetime rejecting God to remain in His presence would be a greater hell than hell itself.

Imagine living in a house with someone you distrusted, ignored, and avoided all your life; not exactly my idea of fun. And not because your assessment was correct but because you believed it was and refused to believe otherwise. 

So how have we rejected God?

We reject Him when we live our lives as if He does not matter, even though all we are and all we have is a gift from Him—when, in effect, we simply couldn’t care less about Him. If we thought of Him at all, it was only briefly in our most ³desperate moments, and even then not for the purpose of knowing Him, but merely in order to find relief from our suffering.

If God does not matter to us and we avoid Him now, He will not force Himself upon us. Instead, He will honor our wish to live without Him.

The reality is that God does not send people to hell. They choose it themselves, day by day, by living as if God is insignificant or does not exist at all—when the truth is ⁴exactly the opposite.

To live this way is to live a lie. It runs contrary to who God is as our beautiful and majestic Creator, to who we were created to be, to our very design, and to God’s loving desire for us.

__________________________

Footnotes:

¹The more we come to delight in God in this life the more we will delight in Him throughout eternity. The reward of our faithfulness to God in this life is God himself. 

https://thotsaboutgod.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-necessity-of-dependence.html

²By sending His Son and by giving us all the blessings of creation.

³But this usually passes quickly because He didn't give us the relief we demanded on our terms.

⁴Every good thing that we have and are comes from God. Nothing that is would be if there was not God. God is the source of life, love, and all things. The absence of Him and all that He offers, is hell. 

Every breath we take or receive?

All of life - our own and the planets' - requires energy to operate. Where there is no energy, there is no life.

Some of the main sources of energy are the sun, wind (air), fire, electricity, magnetism, atoms, flowing water, food (for our personal energy), etc. Without these, there is no energy or life, much less the pleasures or conveniences of life.

But more importantly is understanding that we are not the cause of any of these. 

Yet we have complete access to - if not regular use of - virtually all of them. They are always available for our use and benefit. And this reveals the heart of our true condition. 

Are we the cause of these or the means by which they exist? If not, then ²who or what is? Since there is no life without these, wouldn't it be important to know what or who is, and acknowledge this, and be grateful to the ²provider of them?

Are we grateful for these resources, or do we take them for granted because they are always available or accessible? 

Do we assume they are ours to use whenever, wherever, and however we want or see fit? Do we ⁴demand to have them without interruption and ⁴become angry when we don't and are cut off from them or they from us?

Because we always have use of or access to these, we live life as if we ¹always will. But will we?

Why do we approach life this way? 

If we take these resources for granted, this is due to not recognizing that all we are and have are gifts; i.e., they are available to us because something or ²someone other than us provides and sustains them (and could also rightfully and easily not provide them or even remove them).

Would it be wrong for a parent to deny their teenage child the use of their valuable car or beach house for some reason? 

Easy access or use of something is not the same as ownership no matter how easily or long that use has occurred or continues. We forget over time, use of these only continues because of love, not as a right.  

If we truly understood and believed that everything is a gift - vs a right - we would wake up every day grateful for all we are and have down to our very breath. These are all gifts! But most don't wake up grateful. Many (maybe most) whine and complain about what they don't have or have lost. Many live in a perpetual state of victimhood, having a pity party.

Most assume all we have is rightfully ours merely because we have ongoing use of them. They are not gifts on loan but the fruit of time plus chance and ours to use as I see fit. They may even get upset if you suggest otherwise.

Instead, if we lose these blessings of life, we get angry and even bitter as if it's our right to have them. And if others have greater access to or use of them, we become envious.

To pray before we eat and say "thank you for the bounty we are about to receive" should be our approach to all of life. When we wake up, we should ³thank God for the very breath we take in and for the use and enjoyment of everything else we depend on to sustain our life. And also grateful for our 5 senses that allow us to take in and experience all the good things around us, instead of being angry if we lose them.

Why? We are not the cause or the one who maintains these things (or could even if we wanted to), but simply the recipients and beneficiaries. We should be grateful!

______________________________________
Footnotes:

¹which is why death is such a shock and blow to us. We simply take life for granted until we or someone else we care about no longer has it.

The fact that death is such a shock indicates how much we take all we are and have for granted. Life is not a given but a gift which is owned, controlled, and maintained ultimately by someone else, not us. We may be able to manipulate things to go the way we want, but only to a limited time or degree -  never fully. We are ultimately not in charge and are dependent on these for our very existence. 

Because we do not constantly ponder and appreciate the gifts of life, it shows how resistant (rebellious) and arrogant we are to seeing the true nature of things.

²Contrary to the consensus of much of the scientific community, I propose there is a Creator. Granted, this is a posture or position of faith. But so is a materialistic worldview, which requires more faith than believing in intelligent design, i.e., the things we observe align more with the existence of a Designer than their happening by random chance. For more on this, click here. 

³like David, we should say, "...this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. 

And if, like Job, we experience loss we should say, "...the Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." 

When we truly recognize this, we will be full of gratitude every morning when we rise and take another breath.

When we see things correctly and as they truly are we will wake up saying...

“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Psalm 118:24 ESV

⁴To whom are we making these demands to and becoming angry with? Isn't it curious that most of us blame God when things go wrong, while at the same time ignore Him most of our lives or when things go well. Or we deny He exists at all? This reveals how arrogant and ungrateful we are!