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NASB | Colossians 1:24 ¶ Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Colossians 1:24 ¶ Now I rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf. And with my own body I supplement whatever is lacking [on our part] of Christ's afflictions, on behalf of His body, which is the church. |
Bible Question:
Hi Tim, and thanks for responding to this thread! I have a few quotes to add here: "It will be of great importance if you can leave the care of your affairs to, and spend the remainder of your life only in worshipping GOD. He requires no great matters of us; a little remembrance of Him from time to time, a little adoration: sometimes to pray for His grace, sometimes to offer Him your sufferings, and sometimes to return Him thanks for the favours He has given you, and still gives you, in the midst of your troubles, and to console yourself with Him the oftenest you can. Lift up your heart to Him, sometimes even at your meals, and when you are in company: the least little remembrance will always be acceptable to Him. You need not cry very loud; He is nearer to us than we are aware of." (Brother Lawrence, in The Practice of the Presence of God) "The suffering of man is also the suffering of God." (Paul Tournier) "Unearned suffering is redemptive." (Martin Luther King, Jr.) "We all know people who have been made much meaner and more irritable and more intolerable to live with by suffering; it is not right to say that all suffering perfects. It only perfects one type of person—the one who accepts the call of God in Christ Jesus." (Oswald Chambers) "I offer you, Lord, my thoughts: to be fixed on you; My words: to have you for their theme; My actions: to reflect my love for you; My sufferings: to be endured for your greater glory." (from the Universal Prayer, attributed to Pope Clement XI) Question: Are these thoughts and sentiments unscriptural? What does it mean to offer up a "spiritual sacrifice" (1 Pet 2:1)? --Cheryl |
Bible Answer: hi, Cheryl, adding to your quotes Spurgeon wrote this in one of His moning devotionals for April 5 "On Him they laid the cross, that He might bear it after Jesus." --Luke 23:26 We see in Simon's carrying the cross a picture of the work of the Church throughout all generations; she is the cross-bearer after Jesus. Mark then, Christian, Jesus does not suffer so as to exclude your suffering. He bears a cross, not that you may escape it, but that you may endure it. Christ exempts you from sin, but not from sorrow. Remember that, and expect to suffer. But let us comfort ourselves with this thought, that in our case, as in Simon's, _it is not our cross_, but Christ's cross which we carry. When you are molested for your piety; when your religion brings the trial of cruel mockings upon you, then remember it is not _your_ cross, it is Christ's cross; and how delightful is it to carry the cross of our Lord Jesus! _You carry the cross after Him_. You have blessed company; your path is marked with the footprints of your Lord. The mark of His blood-red shoulder is upon that heavy burden. 'Tis _His_ cross, and He goes before you as a shepherd goes before his sheep. Take up your cross daily, and follow Him. Do not forget, also, _that you bear this cross in partnership_. It is the opinion of some that Simon only carried one end of the cross, and not the whole of it. That is very possible; Christ may have carried the heavier part, against the transverse beam, and Simon may have borne the lighter end. Certainly it is so with you; you do but carry the light end of the cross, Christ bore the heavier end. And remember, _though Simon had to bear the cross for a very little while, it gave him lasting honour_. Even so the cross we carry is only for a little while at most, and then we shall receive the crown, the glory. Surely we should love the cross, and, instead of shrinking from it, _count it very dear_, when it works out for us "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." |