The Temporary nature of our Suffering.

What holds most people in bondage while they are suffering is the lack of faith that their suffering will someday end. It is fear, and this is justifiable because when we lack clarity, we lack peace of mind. It is the fear of suffering and the fear some experience in suffering that fails to help us see the temporary nature of all suffering for those who have faith. Trying to understand why we suffer sometimes doesn't help, there is that saying that there is always light at the end of the tunnel, and that is why we can hope. In 1 Peter 5:10 it reads, "And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." Peter reminds the church that we are not in heaven yet, he tells the church to humble themselves and to cast their anxieties on Jesus. He knows that while we are still here we will suffer but promises them that God himself will strengthen them through their trials.

We can take the same comfort that the early church took, knowing that most suffering is temporary. If our suffering leads to death, one day we will be resurrected. If we have to endure trials, we don't endure them alone, God is with us! One day when the Lord redeems this world, which can be a cause of our suffering, we will be redeemed along with it if we are trusting Christ now for salvation. We might think that we are under a curse, but that is not what it says in Galatians 3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”). The reason Christ died for us is so that we could be made right in God sight. We don't have to keep the law, Jesus' death redeemed us from the curse of the law, so that anyone who has faith in Jesus can be saved!

All the law does is show us that we are sinners, and we can't save ourselves. It is through the death of the Messiah that we can have our sins forgiven. He was perfect, and he kept the law for us perfectly,so we just need to believe, and we need to believe that some real day our suffering will end. How this will happen is a mystery to be embraced by faith, suffering is real, and yes there are ways we can avoid it. However when we can't avoid it, we can embrace it through faith. We can unite our sufferings with Jesus, and offer it up to God. In this way it can become redemptive, something God uses in our lives to bring us closer to the Lord. This is Mike.

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On Christian Marriage. (Short)

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