Sufferings And Glory

by R. ARMSTRONG, Vancouver | Category: Sufferings And Glory | Apr 1956

Trials and sorrows come into our lives for a purpose, and when they lie hard upon us, and would seem to crush us, do we say as Jacob did, "Ml these things are against me" ? (Genesis 42.36).

What blessings often lie behind dark clouds, if only we are patient in suffering, leaving the issue of every bitter experience with Him!

How often, under trial, the restlessness of self-will mars the vessel in the hands of the great Potter. "He made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it " (Jeremiah 18.4).

Oh, that we might be still, and let God work out His plan, His purpose through surrendered lives, in the place where we are! It may be He is testing us, to see what is in our hearts (Deuteronomy 8.2). He puts us in the crucible to consume the dross (see 1 Corinthians 10.13). Beloved, God is bringing us to glory, and on the way He longs to see the image of Christ being formed in us (2 Corinthians 3.18).

Paul suffered much, both physically and in spirit, from the enemies of the Lord, and through it all he never lost sight of the high (upward) calling of God in Christ Jesus, to which he ever pressed forward. "I press on" is indicative of great zeal, and he could say "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward" (Romans 8.18).

The apostle glories in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, and knew by actual experience what it meant when he wrote, "through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Galatians 6.14). He became so closely identified with "Christ and Him crucified" that he bore the marks of Jesus, branded in his body, as a result of physical sufferings inflicted by the enemies of the Lord.

We rejoice in the blessings accruing to us by His crucifixion, but do we realize and seek to make it manifest that the world has been crucified (become dead) to us, and that we have been crucified (become dead) to the world? May we ponder well the implications of Galatians 6.14!

"If we suffer with Him we shall also reign with Him" (2 Timothy 2.12).

"Must I be carried to the skies, On flowery beds of ease,

While others fight to win the prize, And sail through bloody seas?"

R. ARMSTRONG, Vancouver | Apr 1956
Sufferings And Glory