SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/11/2025 12:02 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1
“The Soldier”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2 Timothy
2:3-4
Message of the verses: “3 Suffer hardship
with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier in active
service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may
please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.”
First
of all I only want to do a short introduction on these two verses, but before I
do that I want to talk about suffering for the cause of Christ as it seems that
this subject has come up recently and will continue to come up as we move
through this section of 2 Timothy.
Sometimes
as I read from the Scriptures in different places that it seems that some of
these men and women in the Bible who have suffered seem to be looking forward
to suffer for the cause of Christ. I
know that that is not the case but when they begin to suffer for the cause of
Christ they do not turn and run from it.
In the fifth chapter of Acts the disciples were beaten and told not to
talk about Christ again. 41 So they went
on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been
considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. 42 And every day, in the temple and from house to
house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ”
(Acts 5:41-42).
What
is the reason that people suffer for the cause of Christ? Well I think the main reason is that the
people who are causing believers to suffer really want to put the suffering
onto Jesus Christ but He is in heaven, but the truth is that when a person is
suffering for the cause of Christ Jesus too is a part of that suffering. Let us look for a moment at the conversion of
Saul of Tarsus. 3 As he was traveling,
it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven
flashed around him; 4 and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to
him, "Saul, Saul, why
are you persecuting Me?" 5 And he said, "Who are You,
Lord?" And He said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, 6 but get up and enter the city, and it will be
told you what you must do’” (Acts 9:3-6).
Notice the highlighted portions of these verses. Now let us move a little further along in
this ninth chapter of Acts. 15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is
a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and
the sons of Israel; 16 for
I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.’” I realize that I have been looking at this
portion of Scripture wrongly for a long time as my thoughts were that because
Paul was persecuting believers that now the Lord was going to cause him to
suffer for the cause of Christ. I know
that is wrong as Paul was called by the Lord to be the missionary to the
Gentiles and part of that ministry would be suffering for the cause of Christ
which would bring glory to the Lord.
I
realize that I am not going to totally understand suffering as it is seen in
the Bible but I believe that the Lord has my attention to continue to study
about it and as I go through this section in 2 Timothy my prayer is that the
Lord will open my eyes to better understand more about it as the first word
that Paul writes to Timothy in 2:3 is Suffer.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I trust that the Lord will open my eyes to
teach me more about suffering for the cause of Christ.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord with my life that I will do
what He has called me to do for the cause of Christ.
1/11/2025
12:31 PM
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