---Trust in the One Who Is Just, JESUS ~~

--"I want to know Christ and the power that raised him from the dead. I want to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death. Then I have hope that I myself will be raised form the dead."
---[[Philippians 3:10-11 / NCV] -

--THIS IS a bold claim from the apostle Paul. I wonder if I share his urgent devotion to knowing Jesus on such an intimate level. No, really, I don't wonder. I'm pretty sure I don't. I don't like to suffer. At all. And yet suffering is not optional for us here on earth, is it? We can be bitter about that or we can be like Paul and see what we have to gain from the experience. In short, I think what we have to gain is redemption. experience. In short, I think what we have to gain is redemption.

What does it mean to know Jesus--to share in HIs sufferings and become like Him in His death? None of us are likely to be physically crucified. But every time we suffer, through great loss or the myriad of tiny deaths we die every day, we get a taste of how Jesus suffered on the Cross.. And because He rose again, we have hope that our death--our thousand deaths--will also be redeemed.

I have a friend who always says, "Another thing to die to," when something happens to disappoint him. We laugh about, it, but in a way I think he sees it as an opportunity. Like so many other things in the kingdom of God, it's such an otherworldly way of looking at death and disappointment. An opportunity? The theology lines up with Paul. If we want know Jesus, we must recognize experiences for what they are--a chance to know Him better. To learn to hope in the resurrection The whole process of suffering makes us more like Jesus. So it makes it worth it. ~~

---"Lord, Jesus, give me eyes to see my suffering as a gateway to redemption. Let me not become bitter but entrust myself to the One Who is just. Please use this opportunity to make me more like you, Lord. ~

Guideposts/GFF~' .