Be Happy In Hardship

May 19, 2019

From today’s reading…

They strengthened the spirits of the disciples

and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying,

‘It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships

to enter the kingdom of God.’

They appointed elders for them in each church and,

with prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord

in whom they had put their faith.”

Paul and Barnabas had already accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior…yet hardships awaited them? How can that be?

Maybe they had not FULLY accepted Jesus into their lives. I mean, Jesus had already risen so it was supposed to be all rainbows and lollipops for the true believers, right? 

Paul and Barnabas were also spiritual AND religious? Wait. What?

It was their knowledge of and adherence to religious norms that led them to speak at synagogues and to break bread daily members of “The Way,” as Jesus instructed us all when He said, “Take and eat; this is my body; do this in memory of me*….Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.”

And they fasted because they were spiritual and religious? What in the…!?

And they followed the Apostolic Tradition and confirmed our human need to know who is in control by creating a hierarchical structure and choosing leaders for each city and region and making those leaders legitimate by the laying on of hands?

“STOP THE MADNESS!!!!”

You’re right.

It’s time to stop the madness.

Jesus did not come to create two or seven or 12 or 41,000 different religions.

We were not known before we were even formed in the wombs of our mothers and created to simply do what we feel is right, like a feral cat or gorilla in the jungle. (Jeremiah 1:5)

We were not given an incomplete Word that requires addition or subtraction. (Rev 22:18-19)

We were formed in our mother’s womb to know, love, serve, and worship God.

We know who He is and how to do it because Jesus led by example.

To be human means to be limited and to be limited means to suffer.

To love means to sacrifice and to sacrifice means to suffer.

To love means to set aside your own needs, wants, and desires in order to provide for those you love, which means to suffer.

To be like Jesus, to be like Paul, to be like Barnabas, to be like the leaders in Lystra and Iconium and Antioch and Pisidia and Pamphylia and Perga and Attalia we must… 

Stay the course.Keep the faith.Endure.

*Paul also retells this instruction from Jesus in 1 Corinthians 11:23