No cosy life for Christians!!!

No cosy life for Christians!!
1st Peter Ch 4 verses 12 to 14.
12 Dearly beloved, think not strange the burning heat which is to try you: as if some new thing happened to you. 13 But if you partake of the sufferings of Christ, rejoice that, when his glory shall be revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.
By becoming a Christian in this wicked but hurting world, we are entering into a war of Good against Evil.
It is a deadly serious war where both sides are playing for keeps.
If you say to me that you do not experience this war then you must not be a soldier of Jesus Christ.
Yes! We seem to be a small minority but our Commanding Officer has already won the war when He died for our sins on Mount Calvary.
The Cross of Jesus Christ is our most powerful weapon and one which sends our enemy into a tail spin and crashing down to earth when we stand up to him.
Now to this verse above in 1st Peter....
This is one of those verses which we should tare out of our Bible! Don't you think??
Surely being a real Christian means that you just sail through life with no problems and plenty of money and plenty of health, surrounded always by really nice people who love you????? Do you falsely believe that?
Praying without ceasing and rejoicing always is also just some crazy verses which we definitely have to ignore along with Matthew Chapter 16 verse 18 and a host of others which do not suit us and are so embarrassing and out of date in our modern world.
Wait a minute... The Bible is the Word of God, isn't it? And according to this verse we are to expect lots of problems and battles and trials even welcoming them and expecting them and for sure not thinking that it a strange and unnecessary matter??????...
Why??? Because they are good for us and helps us to take part in the sufferings of Jesus.
But I thought He did all the suffering so that I would not have to suffer???
He did and He didn't. He suffered for our sins but from this verse we can see that is far from a strange thing for us to share in His sufferings so that we can also share in HIS GLORY!!!
We have to share in His sufferings.. He has to allow us to be tried with very difficult and obnoxious people and with sicknesses and sorrow and seeming failures and defeats.
The Joy we get is from the Victories He helps us to win in the daily battles which inevitably come our way.
No Victory without a Battle!
No Triumph without a trial!
No Crown without a Cross!
No Rose without a Thorn!
No Testimony without a Test!
Now here comes the crunch verse that shows us we must never give up, no matter what happens.
The way we end up is so so so so so important.
The thief on the cross must have emptied many a pocket and made many people very sad and miserable with his life of crime and yet he gets salvation in a moment!
Why?
Because hanging stark naked and bleeding on that extremely cruel execution instrument of torture and public shame, he turns to Jesus for help and mercy. You and I need to stay focused through the many of life's trials not excluding our own silly mistakes which we make all too often.
Those mistakes help to keep us humble.....
Mat 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all [men] for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

So next time you and I begin to suffer and have pain from people or from circumstances or from inevitable bodily decay as we grow older, just remember that if we suffer with Him we shall also reign with Him.

2Ti 2:12a If we suffer, we shall also reign with [him]:

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