Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble…?
The
question asked is a personal one. Not “what” can separate us but “who”?
The inference is our enemy, Satan, who tries every tactic he can garner
to make us think we can be separated from Christ’s love. Today we look
at his tactic of “trouble.”
Chinese Brother Mak spent years in prison and tells of the trouble he experienced from his captors and what he learned from it:
At
first they would punch and kick me. There was a certain guard who
slapped my face over a hundred times, until his hand hurt. Then I said
to him, “Praise the Lord! I will pray for your hand.”
The most
painful experience was when they raised me with my hands turned
backwards, and using handcuffs, attached my hands to two bars on an iron
gate. Then they moved the iron gate back and forth from left to right,
pulling my whole torso. It felt as if my entire body would rip apart.
The area where my hands were cuffed especially hurt. The iron from the
handcuffs seemed to enter my very joints, preventing the blood in my
palms from circulating normally.
During this time, I experienced
just how much the Lord loves me. Because He does love me, He calls me to
suffer, and to experience more of His love. He also makes me realize
how minute and temporal peoples’ suffering is, compared to a future
eternity with the Lord. This is God’s teaching. He is teaching me how to
walk the way of the cross.
If I don’t suffer, how can I learn to
serve? My suffering is for my benefit. Suffering leads me to face death.
Only in this way can I die with Christ, and then be buried and
resurrected with Him. Living is a struggle. This is the only way to
reach heaven and experience victory. Thanks be to God! Jesus Christ has
already triumphed over everything.
RESPONSE: I will live this day in the awareness that troubles can never separate me from Christ’s love.
PRAYER: Lord, may all Christian prisoners today gain the insights of Your love like Brother Mak.
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