Sharing in the Suffering of Christ……..
A thought shared in social media by a friend, from C.S Lewis, and worth remembering;
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“In Gethsemane, the holiest of all petitioners prayed three times that a certain cup might pass from Him. It did not.”
C.S.Lewis
Jesus: “Not my will, but Yours”. Amen.
My observation: I just realized that the Apostle Paul, who also asked three times to have a “thorn on the flesh” removed, found his prayer answered with the promise of the sufficiency of God’s grace without having it removed either. Paul also wrote several times about identifying with the suffering of Christ. This is certainly a way in which we can identify with Christ’s suffering ….. when our will must be yielded to the will of God, and instead of our preference or desire, we receive the sufficiency of His grace which is always more than enough!
2 Corinthians 1:5-7
For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
Romans 8:18
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Philippians 3:10
That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
2 Timothy 1:8
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,Je