The Cup of Suffering...

Whenever or wherever we seek out results, one thing is for certain, it will have its price. If an athlete wants to achieve, it will take many hours of grueling hardship. The harder one trains the more probable their success will be. However with that training one must make sacrifices; friendships, relationships and even academic achievement may take strain… I remember very clearly at the age of eighteen and as a rugby player I was fortunate enough to make Craven week (provincial schoolboy trials) final selection week, but I knew if I made the side my end of the year holiday in Plettenberg Bay would suffer and deep down I was conflicted. The week before the trials I had a motorbike accident and was now left without a choice. Part of me felt relieved for the sake of my upcoming holiday while another part of me felt hard done by.

It is no different for the Christian; once they have been quickened in the spirit and are now alive to God, one thing is for certain; they will face hardships. Alone life’s journey choices will need to be made. We will either give into the drive from the wants of our lusts fuelled by our natural tendencies, but it will be at the expense of our obedience to God, or visa-versa.

God has a plan for our lives and we need to learn what that blueprint is. Now whether we choose to submit humbly or at times think we know better; the end of the matter will and must result with same conclusion, God will have His way. And for this I am forever grateful, praise the name of Jesus.

We often as Christians make the wrong choice, but God lovingly with His longsuffering character train’s us up in the ways of righteousness. He does not cast us to the wolves if we don’t perform like our brother Joe. Many of us, me included have become giddy from life’s merry-go-round experience. Nevertheless every Christian has the same path set out for them and that is to come the way of God the Father in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot be excluded from His pattern if we truly belong to Him. There is no other way.

This then is the words of our Saviour to His disciples while here on earth. He makes a categorical statement; these then are His words; “… And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized:” (Mark 10:39)

What cup was it that the Lord Jesus had to drink? It was the cup of suffering; “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Matthew 26:39)

Even the Lord Jesus was looking to avoid this cup but not at the expense of the will of His Father; “nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Just as He had a cup to drink, so too His disciples and so do we have to drink a cup of suffering. There is no escaping this truth…

But let me end off with this great truth; we are not alone and we have the storerooms of grace from which all of God’s children are entitled to pull from. And our great Saviour, through His own experience has a living compassion for all of God’s children with their struggles whatever they may be. So remember… “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:15-16)

Signing off

Tyrone