Scripture: Revelation 1:9 I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
Observation: I love the way John wrote this, our "brother and companion in" ...what? In "the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus." WOW! We share these things with John and with every other believer on the planet throughout the ages.
Application:
- the suffering -- the way of Christ is the Calvary Road. "If any man would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." The apostle Paul said this: "I die daily," and this: "dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything." We are companions in suffering.
- the kingdom -- ironically, we also share a kingdom -- an eternal, powerful, amazing kingdom, ruled by our Redeemer and Friend, who Himself shared in our suffering by bearing our sin and shame on the cross. We have a kingdom and a King!
- the patient endurance -- this is what we need to get through the suffering into the kingdom! We must hang onto Jesus and to each other and we will be rewarded in that final day. But for now we share patient endurance.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Update: My lovely bride, Cynthia, also happened to select the same passage for her devotional blog on this date. Please take the time to read it by clicking here.
1 comment:
Wow! We wrote on the same passage. I love it when that happens. I loved the point you made in your prayer about praying for our brothers and sisters around the world that are truly suffering much more than we are. That kind of suffering may one day come to us also.
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