Pray for your enemies - Cost of Discipleship Pt 72

Chapter 13 - The Enemy -- the "Extraordinary"

Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, ...and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you

Bonhoeffer- 'This is the supreme demand. Through the medium of prayer we go to our enemy ,stand by his side and plead for him to God. Jesus does not promise that when we bless our enemies and do good to them that they will not despitefully use and persecute us . They certainly will. But not even that can hurt or overcome us ,so long as we pray for them. For if we pray for them, we are taking their distress and poverty , their guilt and perdition upon ourselves , and pleading to God for them.  We are doing vicariously for them what they cannot do for themselves. Every insult they utter only serves to bind us more closely to God and them. Their persecution of us only serves to bring them nearer to reconciliation with  God and to further the triumphs of love.'

My thoughts--

Prayer. Praying for someone, making supplication for another person. Seeking God, asking for His intervention in another's life.  When we seek God asking Him to be with those who are hurting us, we are recognizing the NEED our persecutor has of God. We are comprehending that the person abusing us needs forgiveness- God's forgiveness, our forgiveness.  We are understanding the VALUE our Savior places upon EVERYONE!  We have NO way of knowing who will be God's and who will not.  The worst of offenders may plead for forgiveness and accept Christ into His life, while the mildest, meekest person who never offended anyone in their lives will NOT accept Christ as their Savior.

We don't know, we can't know.

We are told by our Savior to PRAY for those who are our enemies.  We don't know the even if our enemies will be Christ's or not, but we MUST pray that they will be!

Even knowing the majority of people will NOT be Christ's when He comes, we must pray for all and NEVER ever become complacent in our salvation.

Our life is one of discipleship to our Savior and that means comprehending His words, His instructions to us, and living by them, making them a part of our lives. 

When He tells us to PRAY for our enemies He means for us to PRAY for them, truly pray for them.

Bonhoeffer's saying this-- ' Their persecution of us only serves to bring them nearer to reconciliation with  God and to further the triumphs of love.'  

-- seems strange, doesn't it? Whenever we are persecuted and we do PRAY for those persecuting us, we are bringing the nearer to GOD.   It makes sense, doesn't it?  Remember this--

Act 16:22  And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.
Act 16:23  And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
Act 16:24  Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.
Act 16:25  And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
Act 16:26  And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.
Act 16:27  And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
Act 16:28  But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.
Act 16:29  Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
Act 16:30  And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
Act 16:31  And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
Act 16:32  And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
Act 16:33  And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
Act 16:34  And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
Act 16:35  And when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go.
Act 16:36  And the keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and go in peace.

Paul and Silas beaten and imprisoned- prayed and sang songs!
Their jailor was ready to kill himself when he thought they'd escaped, and instead that jailer accepted Christ and was baptized.

They PRAYED.

One who was IMPRISONING them was SAVED.

We have NO way of knowing what the result of our prayers will be.  We do know prayer WORKS. Prayer is NECESSARY. Jesus prayed!  It's a blessing to have the ability to pray to our God. It is a blessing to be able to pray for our enemies knowing that we are bringing them up to God and by HIS grace bringing them closer to SALVATION in CHRIST.

All through HIM!

Do good to those who hate you - Cost of Discipleship Pt 71

Chapter 13 - The Enemy -- the "Extraordinary"

Mat 5:44  ...do good to them that hate you…

Bonhoeffer- 'We must love not only in thought and word, but in deed, and there are opportunities of service in every circumstance of daily life.

Rom 12:20  Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink…

My thoughts-

Our deeds.
Our actions.

These reveal so much about us, don't they?

We can say we love, we can shout we love, but all the while our actions are saying we don't love at all.

What do we do?

Today I was listening to a sermon called, 'The Anatomy of Faith', and one of the points being made was our KEEPING the faith of Jesus.  The word KEEP meaning the following-

1. to attend to carefully, take care of
a. to guard
b. metaph. to keep, one in the state in which he is
c. to observe

When we KEEP the faith of Jesus we are ACTIVELY attending, guarding, observing and what are we attending, guarding, observing?

Rom_10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Faith we are keeping the FAITH of JESUS and FAITH comes by HEARING and HEARING by the WORD of GOD. We are keeping God's WORD! We are actively guarding, observing, attending to the WORD of GOD.  We are doing this in a very literally way! The words we HEAR are meant to be kept close to our hearts, not discarded as if they are merely being spoken to pass time, or entertain us.  Faith is a REAL thing, not something that doesn't exist. 

Heb_11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

It is SUBSTANCE, it is REAL. It is a REAL HOPE, a SOLID HOPE, and the EVIDENCE, the PROOF of things NOT SEEN.

NOT SEEN!

But HEARD. Remember- faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

We must HEAR the word of God if we would have FAITH.  It must be a REAL ACTIVE HEARING.

We are to love others and that LOVE must be REAL in our doing GOOD to them that HATE US!

They hate us!

HATE US.  DETEST US. PERSECUTE US.

We are to LOVE THEM!

And if we are to love those who HATE us, it's already a given that we are doing good to those we love, right? Shouldn't we be?

Luk_6:33  And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.

It's a lot easier to do good to those who do good to you, right? But to do good to those who hate you, that is truly much more difficult, and I’m going to say nigh unto impossible without CHRIST living in us!

We shouldn't hesitate to say that WE cannot love our enemies, WE cannot do good to those who hate us, because it's true!  ONLY CHRIST IN US CAN MAKE THIS LOVE POSSIBLE, BECAUSE IT IS HIS LOVE!

His LOVE!

Love them! Do good to them! All through CHRIST'S POWER, not any of your own!

All though HIS GRACE, HIS MERCY, HIS LOVE, AMAZING WONDERFUL LOVE!

Please Lord, live in us, love in us!

Bless those who curse us - Cost of Discipleship Pt 70

Chapter 13 - The Enemy -- the "Extraordinary"

Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you

Persecute you.

Bonhoeffer- '"Bless them that persecute you." If our enemy cannot put up with us any longer and takes to cursing us, our immediate reaction must be to lift up our hands and bless him. Our enemies are blessed of the Lord. Their curse can do us no harm. May their poverty be enriched with all the riches of God, with the blessing of Him whom they seek to oppose in vain. We are ready to endure their curses so long as they redound to their blessing.'

My thoughts-

How many read that and found it all but impossible to imagine?

Blessing one who is cursing you.

First of all, when we are being cursed at the feelings those curses cause to rise up in us generally are no where near the sort that would have us wanting to bless anyone, right?

It's that knee jerk, gut reaction we've honed to perfection over the years- respond in KIND, give as you are getting.  The idea of blessing one who is actively cursing us, it's all but unthinkable, isn't it?  We're being cursed! The awful flood of negative reactions that creates in us leave very little room, alright, no room at all for blessings, right?

Seriously, we respond with hurt, anger, but seldom, if not at all, with blessings.

We feel abused wrongly when we are cursed, believing that no matter what's happened we do NOT deserve to be cursed.

Bonhoeffer says, 'our immediate reaction must be to lift up our hands and bless him'.  Our immediate reaction to bless those persecuting us. He goes on to say, 'Their curse can do us no harm.'  This is true isn't?  The harm it commits is wounding our feelings and producing un-Christlike reactions in us, which if we were to respond with a blessing, it would NOT do!

If we do as our Savior instructs us to do, we are NOT sinning in kind!

If we do as our Savior instructs we are REVEALING CHRIST to the one persecuting, cursing us. 

The blessing we give to them- what should it be?  What do you imagine you should ask for as a blessing to one who is hurting you? Should it be a generic blessing, asking God to bless them as He knows they have need of a blessing? Should it be something more? Truly it's probably a situation of deciding such a thing in the moment, but imagine someone cursing you, go on, imagine it.  What does the imagining bring to mind, besides that instant hurt feeling, pained reaction?  Using your imagination let's go do away with that self-centered reaction and listen to our Savior's instruction.  We are cursed and as the cursing assaults us we…  maybe close our eyes and pray silently, or perhaps we don’t even close our eyes, but we instantly pray-  Lord, please bless this person cursing me. 

The prayer takes our minds off ourselves, doesn't it, shouldn't it?

Isn't this what our Savior has been trying to teach us all along? To LOVE OUR NEIGHBORS, to LOVE GOD?  NOT to simply focus all on ourselves.  There is NO commandment to selfish love, not one.  Loving others as we love ourselves means to love others as we desire love, not necessarily as we are loved, or love/like ourselves. No commandment saying LOVE YOURSELF, PUT YOURSELF FIRST.

Even when we are being abused, the abuser comes first.   It sound so WRONG, doesn't it? But we've abused God so much, our every sin has abused Him, and He put us first! Did Christ put His abusers first?

Luk_23:34  Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.

And Christ tells us--

Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you

Did our Savior mean what He said?  Is this truth He is speaking to us?  Would He ask us to do the impossible?

Mar_11:25  And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Mar_11:26  But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

Would He ask us to FORGIVE if He thought it was impossible to do so?

Mat_19:26  But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

WITH GOD all things are possible!

Jesus is NOT asking us to do any of those things without HIM, only WITH HIM, only as HIS FOLLOWERS, HIS DISCIPLES!

Sure, if we try to bless anyone that curses us, we won't be able to- but Christ in us can do that.

We need to decide if we are truly Christ's disciples or if we are simply pretending to be His disciples.

If we are truly Christ's disciples we must LIVE as His disciples, IN HIM, THROUGH HIM! 

All by HIS AMAZING LOVE AND GRACE!

Bless, do good, pray for your enemies - Cost of Discipleship Pt 69

Chapter 13 - The Enemy -- the "Extraordinary"

Bonhoeffer- 'Love asks nothing in return, but seeks those who need it. And who needs our love more than those who are consumed with hatred and are utterly devoid of love? Who in other words deserves our love more than our enemy?

Am I asked how this love is to behave? Jesus gives the answer: bless, do good, and pray for your enemies without reserve and without respect of persons.

"Love your enemies."  The preceding commandment had spoken only of the passive endurance of evil; here Jesus goes further and bids us not only to bear with evil and the evil person patiently, not only to refrain from treating him as he treats us, but actively to engage in heart-felt love towards him. We are to serve our enemy in all things without hypocrisy and with utter sincerity. No sacrifice which a lover would make for his beloved is too great for us to make for our enemy. If out of love for our brother we are willing to sacrifice goods, honor and life, we must be prepared to do the same for our enemy. We are not to imagine that this is to condone his evil; such a love proceeds from strength rather than weakness, from truth rather than fear, and therefore it cannot be guilty of the hatred of another. And who is to be the object of such a love, if not those whose hearts are stifled with hatred?' 

My thoughts-

Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you

Jesus' words.

These aren't words coming from just anyone. These aren't words being spoken by someone who knows no enemies.  Jesus has the greatest enemy in existence.  All the evil people in the world are evil because of this greatest of enemies.  The evil people would not be evil except this being exists to encourage evil to flourish.

From the ONE who knows the most evil being in existence we hear these words.  "Love your enemies."

From the ONE who knows the depths of evil's power, the depravity that it will go to, we are being taught this lesson. "Love your enemies."

Suffering unlike anything we can imagine was known by Jesus.  Some might say He was not tortured for years, He was never abused all His life from His youth up, He was never put through some of the hideous acts that people can suffer, and they'd be right.  But no human being who has ever suffered from the greatest to the least, the youngest to the oldest, has ever known heaven, has ever known everlasting to everlasting.

What our Savior is teaching when He tells us to love our enemies is that we are to love with the love that HE loves with.  

He, by HIS life and death, has made it possible for US to be forgiven our worst of sins.

He died to SAVE ALL that would be SAVED.

He offered us this amazing LOVE and He asks that WE through HIM and HIS power LOVE the same.

He can ask us to love the worst of the worst, because He already has. He's forgiven the worst.

EVERY stroke of evil ever made has been felt by our Savior. He's not immune to suffering, He's felt and feels it all.  He knows our pain. Every strike that Satan makes it's against God, it's made to hurt God. Our Savior loves in a way we can scarcely comprehend and that is truth.

He can tell us to LOVE our enemies because He knows if we do NOT love our enemies then we are really hurting ourselves.

He can tell His followers to LOVE their enemies because His followers will know HIS love and it is only with HIS love they can love their enemies with.

This is truth.

Those that are NOT His followers will not be able to truly love, let alone love their enemies.

By HIS GRACE alone we can LOVE!

When Bonhoeffer writes of how we are to love our enemies, not by merely and passively forgiving but by truly being LOVING and all that means towards those enemies, HE UNDERSTANDS, this is the love Jesus loves with!

Requite hostility with love - Cost of Discipleship pt. 68

Chapter 13 - The Enemy -- the "Extraordinary"

Bonhoeffer- 'The Christian must treat his enemy as a brother, and requite his hostility with love. His behavior must be determined not by the way others treat him, but by the treatment he himself receives from Jesus; it has only one source, and that is the will of Jesus.'

My thoughts-  Imagine that. OUR behavior NOT being determined by the way we are treated by others. Isn't that was establishes our behavior?  Seriously. We are treated certain ways and that treatment is geared to get certain reactions from us. A person doesn't ridicule us without wanting it to hurt us in some way. A person doesn't yell at us without intending that yelling to have an affect on us. The behavior desired is seldom lacking. When we yell at someone what are we expecting the response to be? Sometimes we yell because we want to get a point across not necessarily wanting to be yelled at in return. But yelling often encourages the response of yelling. Anger can result in producing more anger, or it can bring on despair, depression, and various other results, but normally contentment and peace are not among those results. Yet, we as CHRIST'S are treated with LOVE, pure LOVE unlike anything that exists  outside of Christ.  The mere attempt to comprehend Christ's love is mind boggling. This love is how we are TREATED by CHRIST. And this LOVE is how we are to TREAT others. We are NOT to treat others based on how they treat us. We can't if we are Christ's because that sort of treatment results in us being treated that way in return.  If we cannot forgive, we will NOT be forgiven.  If we cannot love others, we cannot be loved in return. If we cannot respond in LOVE towards one who is persecuting us, how can we expect to be loved when we have been the persecutors?

We love our enemies because we as enemies of our Savior through our embracing of sin, are LOVED when we seek forgiveness, repenting and longing to be Christ's! When we are forgiven, when we are LOVED, we are instructed to LOVE. This is OUR instruction- to LOVE, no matter what, we LOVE. Undeservedly we LOVE.  We will never have deserved Christ's love, NEVER! And there may be hundreds, thousands, of occasions that others will not deserve our love, they may NEVER deserve our love, but we MUST love!

Are we forgiven much?
Then we MUST forgive much!
Are we loved much?
Then we MUST love much!

ALL by the GRACE of our God all because HE loves, it's HIS LOVE!

IN HIS LOVE!

Defeat your enemies by loving them - Cost of Discipleship Pt 67

Chapter 13 - The Enemy -- the "Extraordinary"

Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Mat 5:45  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Mat 5:46  For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
Mat 5:47  And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
Mat 5:48  Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Bonhoeffer - 'From now on there can be no more wars of faith.  The only way to overcome our enemy is by loving him.
     To the natural man, the very notion of loving his enemies is an intolerable offence, and quite beyond his capacity: it cuts right across his ideas of good and evil.  More important still, to man under the law, the idea of loving his enemies is clean contrary to the law of God, which requires men to sever all connection with their enemies and to pass judgment on them. Jesus, however, takes the law of God in his own hands and expounds its true meaning. The will of God, to which the law gives expression, is that men should defeat their enemies by loving them.'

My thoughts-

The wars of faith were fought plentiful and often, just read your Old Testament and the call to war was seemingly constant. It was a war against those who were idol worshippers, those who broke the law of God consistently as a way of life.

God destroyed all but eight human beings because of the evil of mankind. The evil that was man living separate from God without any desire whatsoever to establish a connection with Him ever again.

The Creator did NOT create us to be separate from Himself, this is what people fail to comprehend.

Only in Him are we truly complete as we were meant to be, as we were created to be.  We were NOT created to be apart from God, we were made in His image. We were made by a Creator who KNOWS that us without Him- equals nothing.

People rail against this bond, they fight against is as if they created themselves and know what's best for themselves. People judge that God is against them, when HE created them! 

He truly does have the RIGHTS to us, the RIGHTS of OWNERSHIP.  And yet… He created us with the ability to CHOOSE whether or not we comprehend and accept the LOVE of this OWNERSHIP.  It's not a MASTER - SLAVE relationship. It's a MASTER - COMPANION relationship.   We are NOT forced to remain as slaves are forced, we can choose to break the relationship whenever we want.  This is a FATHER- CHILD (ADOPTED) relationship to those who choose to remain. 

However, if we do NOT choose to remain in a relationship with our Creator, the ONLY relationship that really complete who we were created to be, then we forfeit our life.  When we choose to live outside the ONLY relationship that can sustain us eternally, we are choosing our own death.

In the very beginning God told Eve she would die if she separated herself from Him by choosing to believe that she could live apart from Him.

Yes, people say it was just a piece of forbidden fruit, none of that separation stuff. But Eve knew that God had created her, and loved her. Eve knew that God denied her nothing she needed. Even knew that God wanted to be in a relationship with her, and she wanted for NOTHING.  The choice she had to make was whether or not to BELIEVE in Her Creator, the One who had given her life and everything she ever needed.  Satan entered the picture and lied to her about God and she LISTENED to Satan. She chose to DISBEILEVE God. She chose to abandon HIS TRUTH. She chose to SEPARATE her life from God's. God told her that separation would mean death and He did not lie, He cannot lie.

Because Eve did NOT on her own make this choice, but was INFLUENCED to do so, mankind was given an OPPORTUNITY to RECONNECT with their CREATOR, while Satan was condemned permanently.

This opportunity is given to us all. We still are all subject to death, but we are not all going to be subject to permanent death.  Those who CHOOSE to believe, those who CHOOSE to accept the sacrifice of our Savior, the price He had to pay to once more reconnect us fully with Him will live eternally as we were originally intended to live.

When we do not choose to reconnect, we are choosing permanent death.

Millions have chosen to die rather than reconnect with their source of eternal life.  There are a myriad of reasons they give for this choice, but none matter. The fact they have chosen death over life is the bottom line.

Our God hasn't kept silent about this choice- it is well known and has been since the beginning sin.

Bonhoeffer's saying this--  'From now on there can be no more wars of faith.'    He was saying that all the wars that had been fought prior to our Savior's sacrifice and resurrection, were wars fought because our Savior had NOT lived and died. The FINAL sacrifice, the ULTIMATE sacrifice had to be completed not something looked for, not something anticipated.  Satan, up until Christ died on that cross, had hope that He could keep Christ from making that sacrifice. Satan wanted to thwart God's plan of salvation. This war of faith was all the revelation of the GREAT battle truly going on in life- the battle between good and evil, God and Satan.  A real WAR with real consequences!  When our Savior died and rose to live again, the BATTLE was WON.  And our Savior did not want there to ever be another war of faith- a war that cannot lay claim to Victory. The WAR was WON!   And if we BELIEVE the WAR was WON by CHRIST, we know that no physical war in the name of faith is being fought to determine a victor.  The VICTOR, CHRIST JESUS OUR SAVIOR, told US NEVER to fight the physical battle of faith again, never in His name strike another person.  When we do that we are fighting the wrong war. 

We are still in the war. The enemy keeps on fighting only he is not fighting to win the war, but to take as many people with him as he possibly can. We can choose to side with the VICTOR and place our FAITH in HIM. Knowing that even if Satan attacks us physically, provoking us to war, that we are NOT to fight back in that way.

Right there in the Garden of Gethsemane as Jesus healed the Roman soldier's ear that Peter cut off, we are being shown beyond a doubt that it would NOT EVER BE by the sword we should fight again.

Bonhoeffer said this-- 'The only way to overcome our enemy is by loving him.' 

Christ said this--

'Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you'

Truth!

Bonhoeffer said - ' To the natural man, the very notion of loving his enemies is an intolerable offence, and quite beyond his capacity: it cuts right across his ideas of good and evil.  More important still, to man under the law, the idea of loving his enemies is clean contrary to the law of God, which requires men to sever all connection with their enemies and to pass judgment on them. Jesus, however, takes the law of God in his own hands and expounds its true meaning. The will of God, to which the law gives expression, is that men should defeat their enemies by loving them.'

Defeat our enemies by LOVING them!

Christ's LOVE.

All through CHRIST!

This is truth!

And we MUST live in TRUTH, live in CHRIST!

Yes, we still have the power of choosing eternal life, or eternal death, that will not be taken from us.  We will choose, all of us will choose, and by the grace of CHRIST may we choose life in HIM! To be with our Creator as we were intended to be, no longer separated but united to Him in LOVE, selfless love!

Please LORD, all by YOUR GRACE, YOUR MERCY, YOUR LOVE!

Victory Over Evil - Cost of Discipleship Pt 66

Chapter 12 - Revenge

Bonhoeffer- 'It looked as though evil had triumphed on the cross,  but the real victory belonged to Jesus. And the cross is the only justification for the precept of non-violence, for it alone can kindle a faith in the victory over evil which will enable men to obey that precept. And only such obedience is blessed with the promise that we will be partakers of Christ's victory as well as of his sufferings.

The passion of Christ is the victory of divine love over the powers of evil, and therefore it is the only supportable basis for Christian obedience. Once again, Jesus calls those who follow him to share his passion. How can we convince the world by our preaching of the passion when we shrink from that passion in our own lives? On the cross Jesus fulfilled the law he himself established and thus graciously keeps his disciples in the fellowship of his suffering. The cross is the only power in the world which proves that suffering love can avenge and vanquish evil.  But it was just this participation in the cross which the disciples were granted when Jesus called them to him. They are called blessed because of their visible participation in his cross.'

My thoughts-

Victory over evil.

The cross.

1Co 15:51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1Co 15:55  O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1Co 15:56  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
1Co 15:57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.


We shall not all sleep death's sleep. Some, those saints living in the last days in Christ, will never taste of the first death- the sleep.  But we will ALL be changed.  Those who sleep and those who have not slept death's sleep will ALL be changed. 

In a twinkling of an eye.

At the last trump.

The dead (those sleeping in their graves) will be raised up out of their graves incorruptible.

Corruption turned to incorruption. Mortal turned to immortal.

Death swallowed up in VICTORY.

Thanks be to God which gives us the VICTORY through our LORD JESUS CHRIST.

Without Christ's sacrifice of His life in every way, all the way to the cross, and His death, there would be NO victory over evil.

He's the ONLY One who has ever triumphed completely over evil. Without Him there is NO triumphing over evil, none.

The cross of our Savior is His WILLINGNESS to let LOVE triumph over EVIL.
The cross of our Savior revealed SUFFERING- temporary suffering- endured as evil had its full sway in the crucifixion of One who was completely innocent of any evil at all.

We who are guilty complain when we are called to suffer at the hands of evil.
He who was innocent complained NOT when He was called to suffer at the hands of evil.
He calls us who would be HIS to complain NOT when we are called to suffer at the hands of evil, any manner of evil.
We are to be subservient as HE was subservient.
The GREATEST EVER- a SERVANT to ALL!

What does that tell us?

We who strive to NOT serve but be served?

It tells us how far off the mark we are in our lives when we choose to NOT SERVE.

Christ's disciples were called BLESSED because of their VISIBLE participation in the suffering of Christ on the Cross- Bonhoeffer wrote.

It is true.

The disciples did not hide their love of Christ in following His teachings.

It wasn't always easy for them, but the very nature of suffering makes it far from easy.

This is the voice of one who is suffering-

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

That was Paul speaking, calling himself a wretched man, seeking deliverance. 

Our suffering at the hands of evil people, does not end there. We suffering evil throughout our lives and do so in many ways. 

Visibly suffering where others witness the suffering is not easy at all.

We hate to be abused by evil people and our NATURAL inclination is to do all we can to avoid that. When we are confronted by these situations we are required by our Savior to suffer as HE suffered.  The suffering is NOT deserved, but endured all because of the LOVE of Christ. The love of Christ is TRIUMPHING over evil by NOT becoming evil in any way, enduring evil without rendering evil in kind, suffering as evil has its way.

Please LORD in whatever situations we find ourselves in confronted by evil help us to look to You for all our needs. You who suffered and died for us, let us be YOURS.

All by YOUR GRACE!
YOUR LOVE!