After not having a meeting in over a month, a review was in order for this past Sunday's meeting, so we took another look at the topics covered in Set 5...Gratefulness, Complaining and Murmuring, Gossip, and Disrespect.
We also got to read our letters from a new pen pal group that is right here in our state! A big hello to the Cle Elum Bright Lights group :)
Gratefulness
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An
attitude of gratefulness is only possible if we are willing to trust that God
knows best in every detail of our lives.
God deserves our thanks and gratitude not only when we are happy with
our circumstances, but also when we are suffering, disappointed, or when we do
not understand why a difficult situation is happening.
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Remember
that rejoicing is a decision – primarily an act of the will, not of the
emotions. Do not give into the enemy’s
attacks of discouragement.
“Do all things without grumbling or disputing;
that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God
above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom
you appear as lights in the world,”
Philippians 2: 14 – 15
Complaining
and Murmuring
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Whenever
we complain, we are actually complaining against the Lord. Complaining demonstrates that we are not
fully trusting God.
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The
Lord’s command is not simply that we do not complain, but that we actually
rejoice in suffering! Think about our
Lord’s suffering on the cross and consider what is written in scripture:
“Therefore,
since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay
aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us
run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus,
the author and perfector of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God. For consider Him who has endured
such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and
lose heart.” Hebrews 12: 1 – 3
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Jesus
was made perfect through suffering.
“It was
fitting that God . . . should make the author of their salvation perfect
through suffering" (Hebrews 2:10).
The whole
earthly life of Jesus is summed up in one phrase. He was made “perfect through
suffering.” But wasn’t Jesus perfect when he was born in the manger? And didn’t
he live a sinless life? Wasn’t his death the death of an innocent man?
Yes. He
was morally perfect. That is one kind of perfection or completion. But there is
another kind of perfection or completion that comes only by experience. Jesus
entered fully into the sufferings of this world and emerged victorious over
them. He was completed in his experience on the earth by the things he
suffered. That is why he may be called the “author” of our salvation.
Christ came
to blaze the trail so we might follow him on to glory. But the trail is marked
with suffering, with tears, with rejection, and it ultimately leads to the
cross. Anyone who follows Jesus will end up where he ended up–outside Jerusalem
on a hill shaped like a skull. He is not just leading us to heaven. He is
leading us to glory. There is glory at the end of the Christian life. Jesus
came from heaven so we might follow him in suffering and like him be made
complete through suffering.
That
explains so much that happens to us. What is God doing in your life and in
mine? He is putting us through the Curriculum of Grace in the School of
Suffering. School starts the moment we trust Christ and ends the day we die.
How will we ever pass the test and win the degree? By keeping our eyes on
Jesus. He’s the valedictorian of the class. He never failed a test. He blazed
the trail through the School of Suffering that we might follow in his path. He
is leading us to glory one step at a time.
Choose
joy in the midst of suffering.
“Consider it
all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the
testing of your faith produces endurance.
And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and
complete, lacking in nothing.” James: 2
– 4
It
is possible to see problems as exciting opportunities. As we purpose to give thanks in everything,
we can then wait in expectation to see God’s plan unfold.
“And we know
that God causes all things (His choices, your choices, the choices of others…)
to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called
according to His purpose.” Romans 8: 28
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Be
prepared for the tests God may bring into your life this week. Purpose to give thanks, not complain.
