Footing #2

Standing on His promises are wrapped up in obedience and are a reflection of Christ's life here on this earth. If we are being formed into the image of Christ, won't our life here, look very similar to His life here? If in Heaven when we see him we will be like Him for we shall see him as he is, right? We all perceive this truth in our lives to some extent, even when we aren't followers of him.

A good way to explain what I mean is using the example that was given when I watched an interview with a holocaust survivor (if you are interested in that video or others click here, but remember you will probably take several days watching just one interview). The survivor was relaying her experience after she came to America where she was reunited with her family(those who had escaped in the early 1930's) after the war. The interviewer asked this woman if she was able to speak with her family about the Holocaust or Shoah and she simply said something to the effect that "They were normal, they had these lives where the war meant standing in line for nylons or playing poker for oil cans to use your car. They just couldn't comprehend the experience of struggling for your life, having typhus, being hunted like a rabbit, not having shoes for years on end, not being able to use even a jacket because of it's lice infestation, losing your entire family. They just could not comprehend it at all. So I did not speak of it."



So if that is a human example of an extreme life experience which either unites or divides us from others, how much more should we identify with Christ in order to comprehend who he was/is? If we never know what happened to Christ here on earth; the ways He was forced to humble Himself, the ways he relied on the father, the ways he suffered or the struggle he endured. How will we see Him like He is in Heaven? The way we see Him as He is, is by being made like Him (1John 3). And how can we be like Him in heaven if we were never like Him on earth?

How can we face anything, like our greatest enemy (death) with any sort of courage if we have spent our entire lives living a weak and unChrist-like faith?

My point, I suppose is, that if we do not have fellowship with Christ in His sufferings then how can we understand the weight of glory we are to inherit? When we are worshipping the Savior eternally how can we really see Him for all he is worth apart from understanding in a very personal way all he did on our behalf?! When we are rejected, reviled, and struggle for the cause and work of Christ we see how much of a sacrifice it was to come in the form of a man, forsaking His throne and humbling himself to the point of death, even the death of a criminal. The cost of the gospel was great for Christ, how then can it be cheap for us?!

note: I am making these connections because I really don't like suffering. I honestly really hate the struggle. I am the whiney soldier who cannot hardly take the gun fire. The guy with battle fatigue, someone Patton would hate! But reminding myself of His courage in much harder circumstances encourages me to continue in my current situation even when I am weakest. Because these strugggles are making me fit to understand the person and work of grace and more ready to proceed to my final home.