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Why you shouldn’t suffer for Jesus

By Jeremy Myers
18 Comments

Why you shouldn’t suffer for Jesus

I hear a lot of religious talk about how following God will lead to suffering and pain. How we must sacrifice ourselves for Jesus. While I do not at all deny that the New Testament does speak with this sort of language (cf. Rom 12:1-2), and while I completely agree that following Jesus will lead to troubles and trials (John 16:33), I think that religion sometimes places too great of an emphasis on the pain and the sorrow, and not enough emphasis on the joy and contentment.

Let me put it another way. I sometimes hear people say, “Jesus suffered and so should you.”

I’m just not so sure this logic is sound, nor am I sure it is biblical.

suffering for Jesus

To say that we need to become more like Jesus by following Jesus into suffering is like saying that we need to become more like God by following God into creating the universe.

Good luck with that…

While we certainly can be creative, none of us will ever create the universe.

Similarly, while we certainly will suffer in this life as followers of Jesus, Jesus does not call us to suffer as He suffered.

Yes, I know that we are to take up our cross and follow Him.

But to take up your cross and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23) is to take up your cross, not His.

take up your cross and follow JesusHe already carried His cross. He doesn’t need or want or call us to carry His cross. Jesus carried His cross so that we would not have to. (Yes, yes, Simon carried it for him for a while, but when we talk about Jesus carrying His cross, we’re not actually talking about Him carrying it, but about His death and suffering upon the cross…)

Jesus did not suffer and die so that we could follow Him into suffering.

I believe this sort of misapplication of the death of Jesus only grieves Jesus deeply.

Imagine if a criminal broke into your home and gave you the choice of torturing you or your child. You would obviously choose to have the criminal torture you to death. But what if, as your child grew up, they wanted so much to be like you, that they decided to start seeking out people to torture them? Is that why you chose to be tortured instead of your child? So that they could imitate you and become tortured also? No! You took the torture so that they could live free of torture, and it would grieve you if your child thought that by you taking torture for them, they had to be tortured themselves in order to be like you! You died so that your child might live!

So also with Jesus. Jesus died so that we might have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10). Jesus died, not so that we too might die as He did, but rather, so that we might live as He did.

So don’t follow Jesus into suffering.

suffer with JesusYes, in this world, you will have troubles (John 16:33). But that is because this world is full of troubles. Jesus didn’t want you to think that by following Him, you would escape all troubles. No, you will still have troubles, but you can bear them with the knowledge that they will lead to opportunities to glorify God and serve others.

Remember that people who do not follow Jesus also have troubles. But without the knowledge that God can use even their troubles to transform lives and bring restoration, redemption, healing, and hope, many people allow their troubles to get the best of them, and they turn to drugs, alcohol, entertainment, sex, or even death as an escape from their troubles.

Not so with the follower of Jesus! Our troubles are no different from the troubles of others, but we can redeem our troubles, knowing that God will use them for the good.

That is the only real difference between the troubles we have as followers of Jesus and the troubles that people face who do not follow Jesus.

We Christians sometimes adopt a martyr mentality, where we think our troubles are so much worse than the troubles that non-Christians face. But if you spend any amount of time in the lives of non-Christians, you will soon come to realize that this is not true.

All people face troubles, because this world is full of trouble and pain and sorrow and sickness and death.

everybody hurts

The thing that separates the follower of Jesus from the non-follower is not a lack of trouble or more troubles, but rather the fact that we believe God can redeem our troubles and use them for the good.

In fact, when we talk about suffering with Jesus, it might be best to realize that this does not mean that Jesus is calling us to suffer for Him. No, it means that when you suffer, Jesus is with you in the suffering. He does not send pain and suffering upon you, but rather walks with you through the pain and suffering when it comes.

This is what it means to take up your cross and follow Jesus. It means to imitate or follow Him, but not to copy Him. It means to view our suffering and troubles the way He viewed His … as something that God can redeem. Jesus did not want to suffer and die (and more than we want to experience the suffering and pain of life), but He knew that His suffering would result in the greatest revelation in human history.

Similarly, our troubles can also result in a revelation.

Revealing Suffering

When we walk with God through the pain and suffering of life, we gain a clearer picture of who God truly is, and especially, who we truly are. We also gain a picture of how we can walk with other people through their pain and suffering … NOT by quoting Bible verses at them and pounding them over the head with fear, guilt, and shame about the judgment and punishment of God, but by simply being with them, crying with them, serving them, and loving them, as God does for us.

But make no mistake. Just because God redeems pain and suffering, this does not mean that suffering is good. Suffering is bad.

God does not want anybody to suffer, nor does He send suffering on anybody.

But in the wisdom of God, good can come out of bad suffering. Just as the glorious gifts of redemption, reconciliation, and revelation came from the badness of the cross, so God can bring good out of the bad things that happen in our life as well.

To imitate Jesus is not to imitate Him in His suffering, but to imitate Him in His love.

To become like Jesus is not chase after pain and rejection from others, but to chase after opportunities to serve others like Jesus.

God is Redeeming Life Bible & Theology Topics: John 16:33, life is hard, pain, Romans 12:1-2, suffering

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When Life is Hard, Remember that Jesus Struggled Too

By Jeremy Myers
6 Comments

When Life is Hard, Remember that Jesus Struggled Too

life is hardLife is hard.

I think sometimes the stress and troubles of life get so overwhelming, we feel like each day is worse than the one before. Sometimes we feel like the main point of life is just getting through it so that we can eventually die and be free from the pain and frustration of life.

But sometimes life is hard because we don’t have anyone to go through life with us, or who really understands just how hard life can be.

So I was encouraged today to read a post by Dave Criddle called “The Jesus who Struggled.” Here is an excerpt:

Jesus had anxiety for the future

Knowing what’s going to happen doesn’t always help. Jesus knew what lay ahead of Him as He prayed in Gethsemane, but He still struggled with it (Luke 22:39-44). He knew it was God’s will, but He didn’t want it to be. He knew it was right, but He didn’t want it to happen. He was scared about what was to come. He knew that struggle.

Jesus experienced political maneuvering

Jesus’ opposition didn’t like Him and they were scared of Him, but they didn’t deal with it openly. They engaged in back room deals, gossip, half-truths and outright lies. They were plotting (Matthew 21:46). And Pilate (John 18:28–19:16) knew there was no real case against Jesus. But instead of saying so, he tried the politically-sensible way out – Barabbas. That didn’t work, but instead of sticking to His convictions that Jesus was innocent, he let Jesus be crucified to keep the people happy. All politically-motivated. He knew that struggle.

Jesus felt far from God

While He had mostly enjoyed a very close and intimate relationship with God in His life, as He hung on the cross God was nowhere to be seen or heard or felt. ‘My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?’ This wasn’t imagined. God had turned His face away. When we feel God is distant, God’s Son knows how we feel. He knew that struggle, too.

Go read the rest of the post here: The Jesus Who Struggled

If you have ever found yourself thinking that life is hard, it may be helpful to remember that Jesus has gone through the same struggles as well, and He understands. He wants to walk with you through these struggles and trials so that you don’t have to face them alone.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: death, depression, Discipleship, Jesus, life, life is hard

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My Life Prayer

By Jeremy Myers
3 Comments

My Life Prayer

Yesterday I made a post about how God is a stripper, meaning that He strips things out of our life to make us more usable for Him. I’ve been going through some trying times in my life recently, and amidst all of the frustration and questions of “Why, God?” it was as if God said to me, “Jeremy, it’s because you’ve been praying for it! I’m only answering your prayers.”

Sometimes when the fire of God sweeps brings destruction to our lives, it’s because we’ve been praying for God’s refining fire.

You see, one of my life prayers has been for God to make me into the kind of person He can use to reach the kind of people that many churches cannot or will not reach. 

Though the process has been painful, I believe that in order to mold me into that kind of person, God has has to strip me of some things.

The answer to “Why, God?” is “He is answering my prayers.”

In fact, He’s answering my “life prayer.”

My life prayer is not found in the Bible.

Oh sure, I pray the prayers in the Bible, and I pray Scripture, but the prayer I pray most frequently was penned by my favorite poet, John Donne. If I had realized how painful the answer to this prayer would be, I’m not sure I would have ever started praying it (a similar prayer is found here).

life prayer from John Donne

Anyway, here is my life prayer, as prayed first by John Donne in Holy Sonnet XIV.

Holy Sonnet XIV

Batter my heart, three-personed God; for, you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend.
That I may rise, and stand, overthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn and make me new.
I, like an usurped town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but Oh, to no end.
Reason your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captive, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betrothed unto your enemy:
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: answers to prayer, Discipleship, life is hard, prayer

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Listening to Squirrel Holes

By Jeremy Myers
13 Comments

Listening to Squirrel Holes

SquirrelsFor the past six weeks, I’ve had an all-out war with a family of squirrels. Sometime last fall, or over the winter, they decided to make our home their home.

We certainly enjoy opening our home for guests, but a squirrel family, though cute, are unwelcome guests.

When I first discovered the holes they were chewing through our house, my thought was to get out my gun and shoot them. That’s what I would do if I were still in Montana.

But being in a suburb of Dallas, I thought that the neighbors wouldn’t appreciate me shooting a gun next door, and so went down to Home Depot to get some poison.

As it turns out, it’s illegal to poison squirrels.

Instead, I was supposed to use to a live trap to capture them. So I went to the Animal Shelter to get my trap.

I caught the first squirrel in about two days. I used apples and peanut butter as bait. Then I reset the trap and waited. For a week, I never heard another squirrel, so I figured they left. I returned the trap and got up on our treacherously steep roof to patch the holes, then went into the attic and put screen over the other holes.

The very next day, I heard the squirrels chewing new holes to get out of our house. Since I had closed off their exit doors, they decided to make new ones. So I went back down to the shelter, got the trap again, set it, and caught another squirrel, then waited and waited, and not hearing anything, patched the new holes, and returned the trap.

The very next day, I heard the squirrels chewing new holes to get out of our house. Since I had closed off their exit doors, they decided to make new ones. So I went back down to the shelter, got the trap again, set it, and caught another squirrel, then waited and waited, and not hearing anything, patched the new holes, and returned the trap. (Yes, I meant to repeat the last paragraph. Do you see a pattern here?)

Two days ago, I got up on the roof and through some super-sleuthing, figured out where the nest was, and tore part of the roof off to get at it. I spent an hour or more pulling squirrel nesting out of my roof. In the process I found two dead squrrels. (I didn’t kill them, honest!) Today, I patched that hole in the roof and will return the trap to the Animal Shelter. Tomorrow, I fully expect to hear squirrels chewing holes in my house.

Why am I sharing all this?

I believe that God wants to teach us things through nature. It is, of course, one of the four primary ways God teaches us things (the other three being Scripture, conscience, and other people). These squirrels taught me that when a door is closed, sometimes you just have to chew a new one. If you throw up your hands in defeat and say “God’s not opening any doors for me!” you’ll starve to death.

I’m facing a time in my life right now when all the doors seem closed, and have been wondering why God doesn’t open one for me to walk through. “I’ve got a family to feed!” I tell Him.

But I’m beginning to think that by listening to squirrels chew holes in my house, God is telling me He doesn’t want me to go through any of those doors I’ve been knocking on. Instead, He wants me to chew a new one.

I’m excited to see where I come out, but I hope the owner of the house doesn’t get too mad…

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship, family, following Jesus, life is hard, walk by faith

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Is Yelling at God a Sin?

By Jeremy Myers
37 Comments

Is Yelling at God a Sin?

One thing I have learned in times of crisis is that God can take our anger. If we feel like yelling at God, it’s okay… He can take it.

My wife and I were discussing this and she talked about how it is just like our children.

Children often get angry at their parents for not giving them something they really wanted (like candy before dinner), or taking something away that they had (like a sharp knife). The parents, if they are good parents, do this because the parent sees the bigger picture and knows what is best. While we don’t enjoy having our children upset at us in such situations, we can handle their anger because we know that we did what was best.

yelling at God

Yelling at God our Father

Similarly, we are God’s children. As our Father, He sees the big picture and knows what is best for us. We may get angry and upset, and if we do, He can take it because He knows we just don’t understand. I don’t think such anger is sinful or carnal, but just anger from ignorance.

God would rather have us come to Him in anger than run from Him in anger. When we are angry at God, but try to hide it, this doesn’t please God, for this is just a form of pious dishonesty. Do you feel like yelling at God? Don’t hold back! Tell God what is wrong.

Yesterday, one of my daughters was angry at me, and I couldn’t figure out why. As I tried to figure out what had happened, I gently probed her with questions. But rather than answer my questions, she just kept saying “Nothing!” No matter what I asked, that was her answer. This is how we act toward God when we don’t vent our anger at Him, and instead just clam up about what we’re feeling.

Yelling at God is a healthy spiritual and relational practice.

The Psalmists all understood this, and in the Psalms, we encounter some of the most angry writing in all of Scripture, and much of it is directed at God. The Psalmists had raw emotions and were not afraid to vent at God. If you ever feel like yelling at God, I highly recommend you read some of the Psalms and yell at God along with the Psalmists.

Yelling at God reveals Honesty

God wants to be with us in our pain and anger, especially if He is the one who caused it. This is because going to God when we are angry and frustrated at life and at Him is an indication of our love for Him.

So are you angry at God? Are you angry about something he allowed to happen in your life?

Go ahead. Yell at God. Curse if you have to. There is nothing you can say that God hasn’t heard already… It’s not like God has virgin ears. Tell God your blasphemous thoughts. You have permission to be honest with God about your thoughts and your feelings.

God always prefers angry honesty over the sullen silent treatment. So yell away.

In my own experience, after I have yelled at God, I have often “felt” His arms around me afterward, saying, “Thank you for letting it all out. I was waiting for you to be honest with me. Now, let’s talk about it…”

What is your experience with yelling at God? Have you ever done it? How did you feel afterward? Did Christians condemn you for doing so? Did God? Share your experiences in the comments below.

Can I pray when I’m angry at God?

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: anger, blasphemy, Discipleship, honesty, life is hard, prayer

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