Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls. -- 1 Peter 1:3-9, NKJV
Every month I feel like I never knew what faith was before.
Our faith is founded on resurrection. We claim that His resurrection power, in us, is integral to the transformation of our born-again lives. Paul says the Gospel would be worse than a fallacy without the resurrection of Christ. But do we embrace His resurrection, in us? What is resurrection, in us?
Resurrection is walking through death.
Jesus sought His cross. We've abrogated God's glorious call to the Cross, choosing instead our petty complaints of suffering. I complain about having "too many calls on my life" and that "people don't understand me". But my complaints are not the Cross. They're just the interplay of my faults and the Curse, sprouting up around me. The Cross is what we're running to embrace. Jesus won't inflict the Cross on you. If your cross is on the ground and not your back, it's not The Cross. If it's not embraced, you're just hurting.
So what does it mean to embrace the Cross? And what value does suffering bring? I had nominalized it to a teacher of patience. But the stocks will teach patience-- and they don't require any effort on your part. Instead of a submission to stillness, the Cross demands an active submission-- the willful embrace of suffering. The Cross demands everything. And it gives us more: The love of God for God, in us. The pleasure of God in us, to us. Our love is demonstrated by our faith, which is the fountain of God's pleasure in us. Smiling at God through tears while suffering for Christ is good, but God's heart is ravished by lovers who will love Him straight through death. 'To the very [would-be] destruction of their souls. A lover that devoted will be denied no gift. When we have that love for (faith for) Him, we'll walk in His resurrection power. He will be free to do with us as He pleases because any pleasure He has in our doings will please us. The one who walked into the jaws of death without considering himself will raise the dead without conceit.
Which death am I talking about? It's whatever you have. Maybe the deepest death is in you-- the "great darkness" cast by the dark lamp of the eye that can't see God today. What greater submission and faith are shown than faithfully walking through inner (that is, complete) darkness? When hope itself is stolen from us, will we choose him? Do we have a faith that says, without bitterness, "though He slay me, yet I will love Him?" The spiteful statement "I don't even care" is no longer good enough. Bitterness is too heavy. When our ship is sinking, we must throw it overboard to stay above the waters.
I suspect that God is more free to bring happy resolutions to our pain if we embrace the Cross instead waiting out the suffering. Perhaps He is too interested in our good to let us down from the Cross until we take His way out.
If, like me, you've been wasting your heart bearing up suffering and aren't eager to run straight into the mouth of death, take hope. If we embrace the Cross in faith, walking in the Spirit, our innermost being stands away from our affliction. The flesh and heart are seared, but our spirit stands fast. We shall neither be spiritually oppressed under suffering nor shall we collapse into the dust.
Standing in God's spiritual strength while we bear the cross in our weak flesh is amazing.
It's like side-stepping bullets through the fourth dimension.
It feels like walking through walls.
It's His resurrection power to bear our burdens. The Cross.
-andrew
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