In the Fellowship of Jesus’ Sufferings

God lives and works today. How do we know this? By the miracles that he has done in people's lives and hearts. Yes, people who would normally only be interested in living their own lives and in seeking their own advantage are suddenly transformed, set on fire with love for Jesus.

They are consumed by the desire to live for him completely, with body, soul and spirit, even if it involves suffering. But what does this mean for our lives? Listen to the following program by Basilea Schlink called, In the Fellowship of Jesus' Sufferings. Who today knows anything about the fellowship of love and the fellowship of suffering with Jesus? Who knows anything about suffering for his church, that she may be made perfect, as the Apostle Paul writes in Colossians 1.24? Yes, who suffers the pain of all the imperfection and division in God's church? Who is it that can truly rejoice when through his suffering here on earth something can be done to strengthen the church and build her up? Most of us have not yet been faced with persecution and martyrdom.

But who among us makes use of the everyday stresses and difficulties as opportunities to suffer, bearing them patiently out of love for Jesus? In the first centuries after Christ, the spirit that summoned people into suffering still lived in the hearts of many of Jesus' disciples. The first love still burned brightly. It was a power which compelled them to sacrifice for Jesus, and therefore also for his church, his chosen ones.

These disciples who loved Jesus so much and who proved their love by suffering became the seed of the church of Jesus Christ. And such ones have been found down through the history of the church. In fervent love they have gone this way with Jesus.

In the fellowship of his sufferings they have brought blessing to the whole church. I praise the blessing, their words confessing, the path of pain and darkest night. We see people who have witnessed such a love for Jesus with their lives and deaths.

A Christian pastor, Paul Schneider, died painfully during World War II in the Buchenwald concentration camp because he dared to stand for the truth of God's word against the leaders of the Third Reich. He never swerved from this path of suffering, nor did he seek to ease his own lot where he might have. He underwent the torture of the death cells if only he might call out the good news of the gospel to his fellow prisoners.

Love comes closest to God in suffering. Something of his experience of this comes out in words from Schneider's diary. The darkest hours of our lives bring us the closest to God.

For this we owe God our deepest gratitude. So today the world waits for such faithful love, such willingness to suffer, and especially so among us as we prepare to face the difficult times ahead. O make me Thine, my Savior, Lord most holy, that I may only live to give Thee glory.

O make me Thine. You have been listening to a program written by Basilea Schlink of the Little Land of Canaan. To learn more about how God lives and works today, visit us at our website, www.canaan.org. That's K-A-N-A-A-N dot org.

If you contact us, we would be happy to send you a free inspirational booklet. If you do not have access to the web, please contact this radio station for our postal address. God bless you.