"I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily." (NKJV)
"I now rejoice in my sufferings . . . and fill up in my flesh . . . the afflictions of Christ for the sake of His body which is the Church"
Paul rejoiced in his sufferings. In 2 Corinthians 4:17, he called them "light afflictions" (NKJV). What exactly were these sufferings, these "light afflictions?"
"From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness" (2 Corinthians 11:24-27 NKJV).
Paul was unjustly imprisoned, beaten, whipped, and stoned. He was shipwrecked three times, once being in the water for at least 24 hours. He was threatened, cursed, reviled and maligned. And yet, he rejoiced in those sufferings. No, Paul wasn’t mentally ill. He wasn’t a masochist. But Paul learned the secret of being a Christian because he wasn’t doing these things for the Lord. The Lord was doing these things through him.
The Lord is saying to us:
Don’t do for Me.
Be with Me and I will do through you.
"His working which works in me mightily."
It sounds foolish: "I am going to do this for the Lord, for the Master and Creator of the universe". But the fact is, that’s how most of us live out our Christian lives. We do for Jesus. We go to church to show Jesus how much we love Him. We sing worship songs to give Him praise. We read our Bibles to grow spiritually. We write opinions and argue on the Internet to try to change other people’s opinion in an order to do God’s work. (We actually use that phrase: "I am doing the Lord’s work." Do you see the irony? I’m doing God’s work. How arrogant we are.)
We do and do and do and do.
And the reason that we can’t begin to have Paul’s life—which, by the way, is as readily to us as it was to Paul—is because we are doing instead of allowing the Lord to do in and through us. The Lord doesn’t need us to do His work. He needs for us to be with Him, in His presence, in His peace, in His will. And then, once we are totally surrendered, He can easily do what He wants with our lives. He can, as He did through Paul, allow us to go into situations where we are greatly at risk, where we will greatly suffer, but we will be suffering for the sake of the Church!
Right now, most Christians I know don’t even want to die (and go to be with Jesus). And when we die, we want it to be peacefully at the end of a long life. Think of suffering? Not if we can help it! Paul was not only willing, but eager to embrace suffering for the sake of the Church! And with each suffering, he rejoiced! In Acts 16, after Paul and Silas had been whipped and thrown into prison, they were in their shackles (chains) "praying and singing hymns to God" (v. 25) so much so that the other prisoners were listening to them. They weren’t crying or complaining or petitioning to be released. They weren’t afraid or complaining about their unjust suffering. They were praying and singing hymns. These weren’t supermen. They were Christians who had discovered that life as a Christian is about being in the presence of Jesus and allowing Him to work in and through them, "striving according to His working which works in me mightily."
The Lord is saying to us:
Don’t do for Me.
Be with Me and I will do through you.
How do we "be" with Jesus? We pray and pray and pray some more. That is the first and most important step. Paul tells us to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17). This doesn’t mean that we have to be on our knees every moment (though having a lot of that kind of time is important), but it does mean that we have a constant communication with the Lord. We are in His presence, being with Him, and then He fills us with His Spirit Who will do mighty things through us.
© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.
For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com
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