Advent Week 3: Joy
December 15, 2024
I was listening to a podcast With the Perrys and Preston Perry allowed my eyes to see something in a new way. Let me present two separate thoughts and then join them together.
First, we are to share in the sufferings of Christ.
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. (12-13)
When I read about the sufferings of Christ, I am prone to categorize what “counts” as when I am being persecuted as a believer. My interpretation may stem from the verses below:
If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:12-17)
Second, we are to love difficult people
As author of One Gritty Blink, I have studied and reflected for decades on the struggles of life and rejoiced in the reality that our struggles are nothing more than one gritty blink compared to eternity. I have also developed lessons within One Gritty Blink about the reality that relationships with people are difficult! I even propose that perhaps the most we ever look like God is when we are loving a difficult person.
Do the two go together?
Does loving difficult people count as sharing in the sufferings of Christ?
Preston Perry thinks so!
This is a quote from Preston during THIS episode of With the Perrys, entitled, Emotional Idolatry, starting at 46:01.
We have to accept that fact that if God is calling us to do community with people that haven’t received their glorified body, that means God is calling us to endure the suffering of doing life with other fallen human beings.
[Wife, Jackie, doesn’t like this.]
God calls us into suffering, and being wounded by people is a form of suffering. If Jesus came and loved a Judas, what makes you think we not gonna to have love some Judases in our lives?
[Wife, Jackie, doesn’t like this either.]
If Jesus came and loved hard people, that is a form of suffering. You don’t think it hurt Jesus when Judas betrayed him? You don’t think it hurt Jesus when the same people he created spit on him? He chose to enter the human condition into suffering by loving difficult people.
I have been changed by this broadened perspective.
For the first time, I am seeing day-to-day interactions with people as participating in the sufferings of Christ, not just extreme imaginations about being asked to denounce my faith in a life-threatening situation. Instead of just considering the crucifixion as the only valid example of Christ’s suffering, I am including all of the difficult interactions with people that Jesus had leading up to that Good Friday as suffering. All of us share that same kind of suffering with Jesus, too!
We suffer in relationships just like Jesus did.
It’s easier to shut people down, ignore texts, quip, be snarky, or go to bed and wake up pretending yesterday never really happened, than it is to bear with the weaknesses of another. To love well can be gut-wrenchingly hard. This suffering consists of all the let downs, personality differences, conflicts, and differing levels of maturity that come at us through people all day long. These encounters surprise us and force us to flexibly think on our feet and lean on God’s wisdom 24/7 in the power of His Spirit in order to respond in a “manner worthy of our calling.” (Philippians 1:27a)
We have been doing this all along!
Turns out, you and I have been sharing in the sufferings of Christ all along as we have participated in relationships with intention to respond in the power of the Holy Spirit and to reflect His Son to all who interact with us.
Well done, everyone.
Picture Explanation: The fall decorations are up! The first photo features wooden pumpkins purchased on our honeymoon 31 years ago. They make me smile. The second photo displays a pumpkin I found at Goodwill this week! I was thrilled to tote it home. The last photo features hand-carved pumpkins I purchased from my friends, the Westphalen family, who feature their creative skills on Etsy at Wildlife Woodworks Arts.
Speaking of living a short life that is worthy of our calling: The inaugural co-ed online One Gritty Blink Bible study this fall is in process! If you want to join the next one, click on the Oaks Ministries link in the copyright line and send me an email so I can place you on a list to be contacted to participate in a future study! Let’s not just focus on things in this short life, but also what counts for eternity.
Note: No part of my posts are derived from A.I. Thoughts and writing stem from my mind and heart as I process life week-by-week and continue to grow in my understanding of God and how to apply His wisdom to the world around me.
© 2024 by Oaks Ministries. All rights reserved.
I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes growth.
1 Corinthians 3:6
8 Responses
Gods timing is perfect! Doing my BSF lesson yesterday in Revelations 2 & the persecution that Smyrna is needing to endure… there were a few questions about what “persecution or suffering” I had to endure for Christ! It was a hard question for me to answer because I don’t feel like I have really been “persecuted” for my faith. I like your thoughts on difficult relationships with fellow sinners perhaps being a form of suffering! Thankyou so much my friend! Love the Etsy link too: some great items! Love you!
Oh, I am so glad this resonated with you too. Relationships are hard, and I have watched you lay down your life sacrificially for others my entire friendship with you. I have watched you LAY DOWN YOUR LIFE to love as Jesus calls us to do. It is a suffering we can choose to walk away from, and many do. To choose to stay is to choose to suffer.
As of today, I believe this counts. And thanks for loving me that way, too. I gave you reason to cancel our friendship.
Once again, Laurie, you offer a deeper perspective. Loving difficult people is “gut wrenchingly hard” like you say. It reasonates….and I can choose to “love well” only by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you.
I am right there with you in hopes of loving people well. Credit for the deeper perspective, of course, goes to Preston Perry. 🙂
Laurie – I can’t thank you for this post enough. It’s perfectly timed for my life. For the last three years, I have been put face to face (literally and figuratively) with difficult people and suffering is exactly what it has felt like.
This post resonated with me so much it has brought tears to my eyes. It’s hard to explain to people who do not share this perspective how much dealing with (any trying to love) difficult people really is.
But in dealing with and trying to love the difficult people in my life (some of whom I live with), I have experienced the combination of unpleasantness, aversion, and negative emotions that comes with suffering. I have also experienced feelings of helplessness that also comes from suffering.
The last two days even, simple conversations with difficult people left me with pain, distress, and hardship, which is the definition of suffering.
Thank you for reminding me that perhaps, “the most we ever look like God is when we are loving a difficult person.” My soul knew this to be true, but my tired and weary flesh needed the reminder.
May I suffer well as Christ strengthens me. May the same be true of other believers as well.
Oh, beautiful person, you poured out your heart. I read your words carefully and caught them with love. I could not help but think about the life of Jesus as I read your comments. He knows. I think He really knows, and He suffered the same. I am so grateful you were comforted. I, too, want to suffer well in loving people.
Keep on. You are doing God’s work.
The idea isn’t new to me, but your words gave me pause. What loving others will look different in different settings, but the Holy Spirit leads and shows us His way of extending grace and in some instances, verbalizing boundaries. Thank you!! And thanks for showing your pumpkins including your cute little one by Wildlife Woodworks Art! We appreciate it!
I am glad for the pauses in life that God brings along in our high-speed lives. May we love people well but staying close to the Lord and doing the hard work relationships demand.
I love supporting your artistic family!