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Christian Suffering

10/24/2022

2 Comments

 
Picture
On the road to Caesarea Philippi, Jesus told his disciples that he would be rejected by the high priests, suffer, and be killed. When Peter reprimanded him, Jesus exclaimed, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man (ESV).” Jesus then declared that his disciples must take up their cross and follow him. Whether Jesus said all this is beside the point. The idea that—the world being what it is—Christians must suffer is an intrinsic part of Christianity.  

So, I ask myself, “Have I suffered because I’m a follower of Jesus?” “Not much,” I hasten to say. Perhaps on occasion I’ve been rejected by the high priests of modern secularism, but little else has befallen me in the way of hardship or pain because of discipleship. I can, however, imagine a couple of cases in which I would suffer.

One is if I were to pursue a life of social activism. I can imagine protesting some social injustice and being knocked in the head by a counter-protestor. Another is an inclination I’ve had to become a counselor for the National Suicide Line. I’m sure that listening to someone who’s suicidal would stir intense feelings of depression and pain in me myself. That’s probably a good reason for not taking on such a task. I have less justification for not getting out in the streets to demonstrate, particularly during the Vietnam War.

I do believe that whatever we may suffer for following Jesus is more than made up for by the joy of being in His company.

~ Richard Russell

2 Comments
Donald Newman Lathrop
11/2/2022 09:51:01 pm

Interesting piece.

You might not be up to marching in the streets just now.

However, we just stand at our vigils and only for an hour, plus, I bring a stool in case I need to sit. Two others do, likewise.

On the other hand, I suspect, in that the thought occured to you, you might find anti-suicide counseling very rewarding. You could perhaps start in some sort of group counseling setting as you got to sample what that was all about.

About 40 people followed our vigil a couple of weeks ago and they had a sound system and all. They were an anti-suicide group and seemed like a worthy group. We know one of them quite well. I think it was her brother who did himself in. (We took her to prison one time for a three day AVP workshop and she did a major paper on one of the inmates we knew there.)

Peace an good luck,
Don

Reply
Richard Stephen Russell
11/4/2022 12:08:31 pm

Hi, Don.

Certainly I'm somewhat knowledgeable on the subject of suicide. and I've personally suffered debilitating depressions. I haven't ruled out anti-suicide work.

Richard

Reply



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