LEX

...to know the power of his resurrection, and may share in his sufferings...

this verse (Philippians 3:10) was brought to my attention twice this past week. once, early one morning, as i was "reaping" through my bible with the plan set out by my church. the second time was tuesday evening at our prayer night.

it's easy for me to skip over verses like this because i've read them so many times before. when you grow up in the baptist church, that kind of thing happens.

our church is heading into a series about being a church for the city. not just a church in the city, but a church FOR the city. and that means that most likely, or rather, mostly definitely, our livestyles will change. and it means that we might, or rather, we will, suffer.

so our pastor asked us to pray this prayer of Paul's. that we might count it all loss for His sake, that we might see the power of His resurrection in this city. but then we came to this part. the part about sharing in his suffering. and rather than asking us to pray that, he asked us to spend time praying that we would be able to pray that.

what i realized that night is that i don't really know what it means to share in His sufferings. i can't even begin to fathom what it would me for me to truly suffer for the sake of his glory in this city. sure, i can read all about how Paul and all of the other disciples and early Christians were humiliated and martyred for the sake of Christ. but what does that mean for my life, today, living in 21st century America? i honestly don't know, and probably don't want to. because if i did, i might run the other direction.

so my prayer is that, rather than having a clear and specific picture of what it means to share in His sufferings, we might have a heart that says yes to whatever may come. a heart that honors him above all things so that when the suffering does come, we can truly accept it...

"...that by all means [we] might save some...[to] share with them in its blessings."
1 Corinithians 9:22-23

posted by Alexia & Jeffrey @ 5:05 PM