Theme of the Week: Family: We All Have One
Bible Verse: Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. Hebrews 5:8 ESV
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 12:5-8
Everything depends on how we see God.
When we suffer, it is easy to see God as harsh and demanding and brutal. Suffering feels like rejection. It feels like abandonment. It feels like loss. But the truth is, God is treating us as sons. God is leading us into maturity and wisdom and greatness. Some things in our lives we urgently need to lose. They are like Gollum’s ring, way too precious to us. But losing our false prizes and gaining Christ, we enter into One who is worthy to be prized and will never be taken from us. Christ himself suffered. He was a perfect son of God, and even he learned the hard way (Hebrews 5:8).
Can that be unacceptable to you and me? But Jesus also suffered in a way we never will. At the cross, he really was rejected, so that we will never be rejected. He really was abandoned, so that we will always be held close. He was utterly lost, so that we would be wonderfully found. He was treated as an outcast and even an enemy, so that we would be treated as family forever.
Whatever else God is doing in your life today, however painful it may be, if you are in Christ, God is not forsaking you, God is not dismissing you, God is not hostile toward you. He is treating you as a son, a beloved son in whom he is well pleased, for the sake of Christ his Son. His fatherly heart is drawing you in and taking you deeper because he treasures you and rejoices over you and understands you and has a magnificent future for you.
Will you trust him and take your next step forward?
Taken from Proverbs: Wisdom That Works by Raymond C. Ortlund Jr., © 2012. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, crossway.org.
As an Amazon Associate, we may earn commission from qualifying purchases on Amazon.ca. Learn more.
Copyright © 2021 Impactus | Promise Keepers Canada. All rights reserved.
About
