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The Daily Word of Righteousness
Three Kinds of Divinely Appointed Suffering, #8
Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. (I Peter 4:1,2—NIV)
We must "arm" ourselves with the expectation we are going to be chastened by the Lord. The pain we experience is designed to set us free from sin, to save us, in other words.
If we have been in the Lord's prison for many years, this does not mean He has forsaken us. Our barrenness is the prelude that comes before exceedingly great fruitfulness. In fact, the new Jerusalem is composed of those who have known many years of desolation, just as was true of Abraham and Sarah, Hannah, Elizabeth, and countless others.
Whereas Divine wrath destroys all or part of us, Divine chastening results in peace, holiness, and every other desirable outcome.
There is coming on the earth a time of testing. If we guard the word of Christ's patience, that is, if we endure hardships patiently while we are waiting for the Kingdom of God to come from Heaven to the earth, then Christ will guard us, keeping us from the devil when Satan comes to examine the inhabitants of the earth.
The path of the disciple is marked by fiery trials and sufferings of all sorts. But God brings us safely through every pain as we keep our eyes fastened on the Lord Jesus.
Our struggle is with God, not with Satan. There is too much attention being directed toward Satan these days. Satan regards all this attention as worship. God uses Satan to harass us. The solution comes, not as we confront Satan but as we turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and seek deliverance through Him.
The Pruning of Our Personality That Produces Fruit
The three forms of Divinely appointed suffering we are discussing are as follows:
The torment of Divine wrath.
The chastening of God's sons.
The pruning of our personality that produces fruit.
We have pointed out that wrath is destructive. It is torment visited on those who behave wickedly and rebelliously.
Chastening, or tribulation, is applied to God's children who are being taught the manners appropriate to residence in the heavenly palace.
The third form of Divinely appointed suffering is the pruning of our personality that produces fruit. After we have been trained up by chastening we are ready to bear fruit, that is, to reproduce the moral image of Jesus Christ in other people. But the process of fruit-bearing must be wrought by Christ, not by our human personality. So God sends various pressures on us that keep us weak so it will be Christ and not we who are ministering.
The best known passage may be as follows:
To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (II Corinthians 12:7-10—NIV)
The messenger of pruning came from Satan. But Paul addressed the Lord, not Satan.
To be continued.