One of the questions that often comes up among people of faith, is what can I do to show God that I love Him and deepen my relationship with him? This question is asked with the best intent, and with a genuineness that is very moving. In our readings today, the answer is revealed to us. We can suffer with and for Him, and through adversity, glorify Him.
This can be a hard path to follow. We are not a society that cares for adversity, rather the opposite, all the popular messaging we hear is about good times and taking our ease. Yet this is not what we were created for. We were created to serve God, that is our purpose, and part of that servitude is to glorify Him with our whole beings. This is not to say that we are only meant to continually suffer in order to do so, but it does mean that we do not run away from that either. One of the things that Jesus told us very specifically, was that in this life, we will have trouble. He knew and experienced this and did not falter or move away from His path. Neither should we. Instead we can embrace our troubles in such a way that we can offer them up to God for His glorification through the way we carry our burden. We can be an example to His other children through the crosses that we bear, and the way we endure what we are dealt in this life. Sometimes these are things can come in the form of things we have no control over, such as illness or unforeseen circumstances, other times it can come from a personal choice that we make, but in all these things, we can offer our suffering up to God for His glorification.
To be a true believer in Christ means by definition that we will encounter many adversities for our belief because our Lord’s message is not one that the worldly wish to hear. When we hold fast to this message, we will be inevitably scoffed at, and at times perhaps insulted or even persecuted. In this day of modern society turning radically to a secularist mentality, and actively persecuting those who believe in Christ’s teachings, the opportunity to give glory to God in this way is definitely here. When Jesus tried to proclaim His message, He was mocked and abused by those in authority, and those under them. How can we as His followers not follow the same path? He has given us the message, it is ours to proclaim in how we live, in how we answer the questions of others about our own positions on controversial issues, and in how we hold fast even when all others are against us and ridicule us for our belief. It is these times that we hold fast to our Lord, we pray for the strength and the fortitude to endure, and we remember all that He suffered so that we would know the truth, and be redeemed in the eyes of God and thus be able to look forward to eternal life with our God.
To be sure, there will be times when we stumble, He knows this, but our God is not the god of remonstration or persecution for our faults, rather He is the God of forgiveness, compassion, and love. What He wants is for us to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and try to do better when we stumble. He is very much the Father who cares for His children no matter what they do. He will admonish us at times and guide us, He is, after all, a father, but this is done out of love, not spitefulness. His goal is for us to develop into the beings that can enter the gates of heaven and be with Him eternally because we have loved Him in this life and pursued Him. We have demonstrated that our love for Him is greater than all the adversity we encounter, all the sufferings we have endured, and has lasted until the end of our days. We can then return home, and be with Him, and welcomed by Him as only can happen when a proud Father is waiting for us with open arms.
The Deacons Bench 