DAY 5: NOT ASHAMED TO SUFFER
Read 2 Timothy 1:12.
Depending on the circumstances, suffering can sometimes be terribly humiliating. Take for example Paul, who was probably seen as a troublemaker, or a man seeking gain but never succeeding, maybe even a criminal being that there was always “police” everywhere he went. A common person might get tired of looking like the fool. How many times does a person have to be wrested from a mob, imprisoned for open air preaching, or criticized for evil intentions before beginning to shrink back for fear of continual suffering? What keeps a person going despite constant harassment and condescending looks?
Have you ever witnessed the arrest of someone? Or perhaps more common, witnessed someone pulled over by the police for apparent speeding? Or even worse, have you ever been in the driver’s seat in that situation?! It’s humiliating and embarrassing! You just want to sink in your seat and hide so that no one will see you and hope that no one recognizes your car.
Perhaps that is how Paul could have felt everywhere he went. He could have quit in order to alleviate the humiliation, but instead he kept right on going. Why? Because he knew the living God well enough to know that whatever he did in the name of Christ, He would protect.
To consider: Everything we do for the kingdom, no matter how much we suffer for it, no matter how foolish we may look, no matter how humiliating a situation may be, we must remember Who is at the controls. Keeping in mind that our work is never in vain when it is under the care and power of God enables us to persevere under the load. The more we know God, the more confident we will be that He is able to guard all that we do so that we may never say our work was in vain. If there is only one thing you remember from this passage this week, let it be that our work is never in vain when it is entrusted into the hands of our sovereign Lord.
