Chapter 4-
Discipleship and the Cross (continued)
Mat 26:39 And he went a little further, and fell on his
face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass
from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
Mat 26:42 He went away again the second time, and
prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I
drink it, thy will be done.
Bonhoeffer-'Jesus
prays to his Father that the cup may pass from him, and his Father hears his
prayer; for the cup of suffering will indeed pass from him-- but only by his
drinking it. That is the assurance he receives as he kneels for the second time
in the garden of Gethsemane that suffering will indeed pass as he accepts it.
That is the only path to victory. The cross is his triumph over suffering.
Suffering means
being cut off from God. Therefore those
who live in communion with him cannot really suffer. This Old Testament
doctrine was reaffirmed by Jesus. That is why he takes upon himself the
suffering of the whole world, and in doing so proves victorious over it. He
bears the whole burden of man's separation from God, and in the very act of
drinking the cup he causes it to pass over him. He sets out to overcome the
suffering of the world, and so he must drink it to the dregs. Hence while it is
still true that suffering means being cut off from God, yet within the
fellowship of Christ's suffering, suffering is overcome by suffering, and
becomes the way to communion with God.
Suffering has to be
endured in order that it may pass away.
Either the world must bear the whole burden and collapse beneath it, or
it must fall on Christ to be overcome in him. '
*
Bonhoeffer
continuing- ' For God is a God who bears. The Son of God bore our flesh, he
bore the cross, he bore our sins, thus making atonement for us. In the same way
his followeres are also called upon to bear and that is precisely what it means
to be a Christian. Just as Christ maintained his communion with the Father by
his endurance, so his followers are to maintain their communion with Christ by
their endurance. We can of course shake
off the burden which is laid upon us, but only find that we have a still
heavier burden to carry-- a yoke of our own choosing, the yoke of our self. But
Jesus invites all who travail and are heavy laden to throw off their own yoke
and take his yoke upon them-- and his yoke is easy, and his burden is
light. The yoke and the burden of Christ
are his cross.'
*******
My Thoughts-
There is NO greater
suffering than our being cut off from God. He is love.
Our concept of love
is so skewed that people just don't realize that God's love is the only love
that means anything at all. All the so called love we have believe we
comprehends means nothing if it's not of God's love.
Our Creator.
Our Redeemer.
We have worth only
in Christ, we have no worth of our own.
Yet so much in us that lives in our nature of flesh tells us that we
have self worth on our own. Worth simply because we exist.
I've been reading
the Old Testament lately and it hasn't ceased to amaze me the battle after
battle, the killing of whole cities full of people- men, women, and children
all because they worshipped not God but pagan gods. We are appalled by the mere thought that
someone could be killed for not worshipping God. We believe that it's horrific,
and if it's horrific then we have to determine God is heartless and horrific,
but we KNOW He's not!
It ALL goes back to
the beginning and God CREATING us, we are HIS creations and He wanted us to
live in a world filled with LOVE. He created us and gave us a CHOICE to love
Him or ourselves. That's what it was,
that choice in the garden of Eden. To love God and out of that love obey Him,
or love ourselves and obey our own will.
We chose to obey our own will. We turned our backs on God. We refused
His love. We were GUILTY! When we chose to obey ourselves we were denying
ourselves all the love of God.
God didn't snap us
out of existence in that moment of turning on Him instead He gave us HOPE. He
told us this--
Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the
woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou
shalt bruise his heel.
There would be
SOMETHING between OUR SEED and SATAN'S SEED.
That something would be an enmity.
ENMITY- The state or
feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something.
Something - this
enmity - would come between Satan and His evil desire to make all of mankind
his own.
We weren't to be
left to ALL become Satan's.
Right away there was
a choice and it's told to us in the history of Abel and Cain. One chose God the other chose self (Satan).
From our BEGINNING,
our Creation by God we were blessed by being created at all. We are GOD'S or SATAN'S.
Every single
innocent killed will be GOD'S when the dead in Christ are raised at His second
coming. Not ONE single innocent, not one
single person who has God as their GOD, who has their CREATOR as their GOD will
suffer eternal death.
This life in a world
of sin isn't what is ultimately IMPORTANT. NOT getting to live a full life, a
life to old age, isn't IMPORTANT. Being born into this world gives us the
opportunity to be God's, this is what is most IMPORTANT!
Not being God's IS
being Satan's. We don't seem to
comprehend that, so we call God a horror for destroying that which isn't of
Him, but it can't be any other way because all that is not of God is HORROR. Our senses have been so dulled, so perverted
we just can't see this. Satan has duped us so thoroughly that we think there is
something other then God and Satan. We believe there is some middle ground that
we can walk upon, that God should walk upon allowing those who choose Satan to
still live.
It's either God or
Satan, there is NOTHING ELSE!
Our Savior SUFFERED
for US! Our Savior DIED to bear our sins, our guilt! Our Savior wants us to be
GOD'S. Our Savior wants His Father as our Father. We must CHOOSE God and in choosing God, we
choose to live the life that our Savior lived and all that means!
Read this again… is
their truth in this?
Bonhoeffer-'Jesus
prays to his Father that the cup may pass from him, and his Father hears his
prayer; for the cup of suffering will indeed pass from him-- but only by his
drinking it. That is the assurance he receives as he kneels for the second time
in the garden of Gethsemane that suffering will indeed pass as he accepts it.
That is the only path to victory. The cross is his triumph over suffering.
Suffering means
being cut off from God. Therefore those
who live in communion with him cannot really suffer. This Old Testament
doctrine was reaffirmed by Jesus. That is why he takes upon himself the
suffering of the whole world, and in doing so proves victorious over it. He
bears the whole burden of man's separation from God, and in the very act of
drinking the cup he causes it to pass over him. He sets out to overcome the
suffering of the world, and so he must drink it to the dregs. Hence while it is
still true that suffering means being cut off from God, yet within the
fellowship of Christ's suffering, suffering is overcome by suffering, and
becomes the way to communion with God.
Suffering has to be
endured in order that it may pass away.
Either the world must bear the whole burden and collapse beneath it, or
it must fall on Christ to be overcome in him. '
*
Bonhoeffer
continuing- ' For God is a God who bears. The Son of God bore our flesh, he
bore the cross, he bore our sins, thus making atonement for us. In the same way
his followers are also called upon to bear and that is precisely what it means
to be a Christian. Just as Christ maintained his communion with the Father by
his endurance, so his followers are to maintain their communion with Christ by
their endurance. We can of course shake
off the burden which is laid upon us, but only find that we have a still
heavier burden to carry-- a yoke of our own choosing, the yoke of our self. But
Jesus invites all who travail and are heavy laden to throw off their own yoke
and take his yoke upon them-- and his yoke is easy, and his burden is
light. The yoke and the burden of Christ
are his cross.'
Truth!
When we choose self
over God we are choosing to walk with Satan and our burden truly is HEAVY!
When we choose God
over self we are choosing to walk with God and our burden is born by CHRIST
first and foremost! Our Advocate is our all in all, and we must follow Him and
only HIM.
Please LORD, please
help us to choose YOU over ourselves.
In Your LOVE! In
YOU!
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