Highlighted Text: 2 Cor. 6:5-10
Full Text: Job 36; 2 Cor. 6

Creation | As we saw yesterday, the incarnation and death of Christ was a rescue operation [1]. And the mark of our having been rescued is our new creation [2]. Yet what does this “new creation” look like? Or, as N.T. Wright asks, “What are the character-forming habits that put together the genuine humans, the God-bearing, Spirit-filled humans, who will one day rule God’s new creation and sum up its praises?” [3]

Crucible | Wright’s answer – based largely on Paul’s letter to the Corinthians – is challenging: “In order to develop Christian character, the first step is suffering” [4]. Paul wrote, “As servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything” [5].

Crucifixion | Not only did Paul see the suffering of the Messiah as an essential foundation of the Christian life, he also saw the suffering that he himself inflicted on the church before his own conversion and also the persecution that he himself received after his conversion. As N.T. Wright reflected, “The tradition of ancient Israel within which Paul stood had come, slowly but surely, to understand suffering as somehow falling within the saving purposes of God. This finds expression particularly in books such as Isaiah, Jeremiah and Daniel, and of course in the Psalms. We know, in addition, that Paul made Jesus’ crucifixion thematic for his whole life and teaching, as we see in many places, perhaps particularly in 2 Corinthians” [6].

Prayer | Lord, Our fundamental value is not the pursuit of happiness, but rather the pursuit of fulfillment and significance. In taking up our crosses daily, we know that suffering is our first step toward holiness because it’s how you make us like Christ. Therefore, let us live in joyful anticipation of a life that we treasure even more than fleeting happiness – that is, a life that conforms to your will and enjoys eternal pleasures in your hand. Amen.

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Footnotes

[1] 2 Cor. 5:21 ESV (“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”)  |  [2] 2 Cor. 5:17 ESV (“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”)  |  [3] N.T. Wright, After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters. p. 177  |  [4] Id.  |  [5] 2 Cor. 6:5-10 ESV  |  [6] Id. at FN 3

Highlighted Text: 2 Cor. 5:21
Full Text: Job 35; 2 Cor. 5

Picture | What does this mean – “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” [1]? John Piper once offered a picture:

Imagine a scene with me. There is a young doctor who has a wife and three small children. He volunteers to take a dangerous six-month mission assignment to a place where there is an epidemic of a rare disease and a good deal of hostility from the local people toward outsiders. He takes the assignment because nobody else with his special training was willing to go.

The months pass slowly, and the kids really miss their daddy. The wife does a valiant job of holding things together and trying to be mom and dad. Then the day of his return approaches, and the whole family is full of excitement. Mom has butterflies in her tummy, and the kids race around the house shouting, “Daddy’s coming home! Daddy’s coming home!” At three o’clock in the afternoon a taxi pulls into the driveway. The kids charge out the front door followed by mom with her heart beating so hard she can feel it. The back door of the cab opens, and out steps dad, a good bit thinner than before and bearded to conceal his hollow cheeks, but with a big smile across his weary face. He kneels down on the grass and is smothered with six clinging arms and legs. “Hooray for daddy! Daddy’s home!” Each one gets his special hug and kiss while mom waits. Finally he pulls himself loose and they embrace: “Welcome home.” “It’s good to be back.”

Now I want you to look into this young doctor’s eyes, because there is a message there. And if you can see it and feel it, you will know something of what Jesus felt as he rode into Jerusalem to shouts of welcome and acclamation. What you can see in the doctor’s eyes is something he knows that his family doesn’t know: he caught the disease he went to heal and has one week to live. [2]

Prayer | Lord, In bearing our sin and healing our hearts, Jesus knew that he would die. Yet he endured the shame of the cross because he set his face to the joy of our salvation. In his becoming sin, we are healed. Let us bear this message of reconciliation. Amen.

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Footnotes

[1] 2 Cor. 5:21 ESV  |  [2] John Piper. “O, That You Knew the Terms of Peace!” 12 April 1981.

Highlighted Text: 2 Cor. 4:16
Full Text: Job 34; 2 Cor. 4

Affliction | Paul constantly lived in the way of suffering. He once summarized his afflictions:

“Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at the sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches” [1].

Relative | Yet he characterized his afflictions as “light and momentary” [2]. Paul endured suffering in order to accomplish the two great aims of his life – to glorify God and to serve others: “For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you” [3]. Thus, his trials were “light” – not because they were easy – but because they were nothing compared to the weight of glory that he anticipated [4]. They were “momentary” – not because they lasted only a minute – but because they were nothing compared to the ages of eternity that he expected [5]. In financial terms, Paul was a long-term investor, looking past near-term losses for long-term gain [6]:

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. [7]

Prayer | Lord, We long to glorify Jesus and serve others. Yet when our pursuit of holiness leads to affliction and trial, help us not to lose heart – as we set our faces to eternity. Make us long-term investors in your kingdom, reckoning our afflictions as “light and momentary” compared to the eternal weight of glory in which we hope. Amen.

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Footnotes

[1] 2 Cor. 11:24-28 ESV  |  [2] 2 Cor. 4:17 NIV1984  |  [3] 2 Cor. 4:11-12 ESV  |  [4] Rom. 8:18 ESV (“I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”)  |  [5] Even if his suffering lasted an entire lifetime, what is a lifetime compared to eternity?  |  [6] Thank you, Brendan S., for helping me with this phrase!  |  [7] 2 Cor. 4:16-18 ESV

Highlighted Text: Job 31:33-34
Full Text: Job 31; 2 Cor. 1

Intensifiers | Suffering rarely exists alone. It usually comes with feelings that intensify the pain – like fear, anger, guilt, loneliness and helplessness [1]. For example, Job’s suffering wasn’t painful merely because he lost a lot; it was also painful because he felt afraid, angry, guilty, lonely and helpless. In his final speech, he expressed these feelings:

(fear) I have concealed my transgressions …  because I stood in great fear of the multitude [2]. (anger) You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me” [3]. (guilt) Did I not weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy? [4] (loneliness) I cry to you for help and you do not answer me [5] (helplessness) Now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me. The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest” [6].

Reassurance | Similarly, Norman Cousins, an American author who was told that he had little chance of surviving his arthritis, wrote about his experience of being a patient:

There was first of all the feeling of helplessness – a serious disease in itself. There was the subconscious fear of never being able to function normally again … There was the reluctance to be thought a complainer … There was the conflict between the terror of loneliness and the desire to be left alone. There was the lack of self-esteem, the subconscious feeling perhaps that our illness was a manifestation of our inadequacy … And there was the utter void created by the longing – ineradicable, unremitting, pervasive – for warmth of human contact [7].

Then, near the end of his life, he reflected, “Illness is a terrifying experience. Something is happening that people don’t know how to deal with. They are reaching out not just for medical help but for ways of thinking about catastrophic illness. They are reaching out for hope” [8].

Prayer | Lord, Our suffering is often compounded by our feelings of fear, anger, guilt, loneliness and helplessness. Thus, we pray that you would make us comprehensive caretakers of those who suffer. Show us that ministering to the hurting requires no professional expertise. In Christ, who suffered for us so that we could know ultimate healing, teach us how to stand side-by-side with those who suffer. Amen.

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Footnotes

[1] In his excellent book, The Gift of Pain, Dr. Paul Brand is on a “crusade to improve the image of pain.” In my opinion, there is no better book on suffering than this one. Dr. Brand is the doctor who discovered that the problem with leprosy is not that the skin is eaten away; rather, it is that the leper have no sensation of pain. Therefore, for example, a leper would not blink when the eyes need water because they feel no pain (which eventually results in blindness) or a leper would not limp on a broken ankle (which eventually results in amputation). Thus, pain is a gift, a warning sign that something is wrong. Over the years, I have gone back to this book over and over again for all sorts of thoughts. When I have loaned it to someone and not gotten it back, I have bought a new copy because my library cannot do without it. I cannot more highly recommend this book for anyone who wants a wonderful reflection on pain and suffering – physical pain or otherwise. Even if we aren’t struggling now with pain, we will one day and this book is also a wonderful resource for preparing for that time.  |  [2] Job 31:33-34 ESV  |  [3] Job 30:21 ESV  |  [4] Job 30:25 ESV  |  [5] Job 30:20 ESV  |  [6] Job 30:16-17 ESV  |  [7] Cited in The Gift of Pain (see FN 1).  |  [8] 287

Full Text: Job 30; 1 Cor. 16
Highlighted Text: 1 Cor. 16:13-14

Indecision | In 1934, Dietrich Bonhoeffer looked across Europe and lamented the Christian indecisiveness that he saw. Nazism’s influence on the German church was almost complete and Christians seemed unwilling to do anything about it. On April 7, Bonhoeffer wrote a letter to the head of the ecumenical World Alliance, pleading for action:

“A decision must be made at some point, and it’s no good waiting indefinitely for a sign from heaven that will solve the difficulty without further trouble. Even the ecumenical movement has to make up its mind and is therefore subject to error, like everything human …

But to procrastinate and prevaricate simply because you’re afraid of erring, when others – I mean our brethren in Germany – must make infinitely more difficult decisions every day, seems to me almost to run counter to love. To delay or fail to make decisions may be more sinful than to make wrong decisions out of faith and love” [1].

Love | Like Bonhoeffer, Paul suggests that a strong and decisive love – not perfect decision-making – is the mark of a Christian. To the Corinthians, he writes, “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love” [2]. We can’t know everything. Ever. In every decision we make, there are unknown realities – things about the present that are hidden and things about the future that are unknowable. Yet our lack of information need not lead us into fear – for the Lord repeatedly tells us not to fear, but to stand firm [3].

Fight | How do we fight fear when it rises in our hearts? We cling to hope in God’s promises. In spite of uncertainties, we consider Him faithful [4]. We affirm God’s sovereign rule in our lives as more valuable than our information. We cast out fear and place our hope in God.

Prayer | Lord, We confess that we have oftentimes let fear lead us to indecision. Yet we long to have a strong love for you and others – a love that hopes in your power and sovereignty so that fear is driven out. Therefore, let us admit that making mistakes is a part of this life, but we don’t need to fear our mistakes. Instead, let us put away indecision and fear and, in its place, be guided by love and hope in the one certain thing of the universe – you. Amen.

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Footnotes

[1] Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer, [Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010], 218)  |  [2] 1 Cor. 16:13-14 ESV  |  [3] See, e.g., Is. 41:10, 13; Ps. 23:4; Ex. 14:13; Deut. 31:6; 2 Tim. 1:7; Ps. 27:1; Lk. 1:30; 2:10; Heb. 13:6; Jn. 14:27  |  [4] Heb. 11:11  |  [FN] See also John Piper, “When Is Indecision Loveless and Sinful?” Desiring God. 27 Feb. 2012.