“You just don’t understand what I am going
through. No one could deal
with this. No one should
have to deal with what I am dealing with.”
In 2012 the death of family members and close
friends in 2012 damaged and enslave my
body but I always remembered that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and
tribulation is a process of being close to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Tribulation is a center of our Christians life in
order to heritage the kingdom of God; As we are reading the bible from the earliest records contained in the
Bible, mankind has suffered.
Commencing
with the fall in the Garden of Eden wherein Adam and Eve were punished for
disobedience.
But
with all this shortcoming in the Bible it reminds us that Love, joy,
hope, patient endurance is all things we experience or do. But tribulation is something that is done to us,
or happens to us. Love, joy, hope, patience all are virtues while Tribulation
is not a virtue.
Jesus Christ is an exemplary role
model of a great philosopher who experienced a tribulation in his life since his birth. Jesus was the best man who ever
lived. Through the teaching of Jesus
Christ I have been able to experience love, Joy, hope, patient to mention only
a few. Jesus experienced tribulations from the beginning of his worldly
life;
His birth was scandalous he was born in an animal
feeding trough. It was threatened and hated by the political powers like (Herod). He barely escaped death as a child
and had to become a refugee in Egypt. And so it went until he was accused of
sedition against Caesar and crucified.
The birth of
Jesus Christ contains a good news of great joy (Luke 2:10). A Savior has been born, Christ
the Lord! But it is also a call to suffer with Christ. The baby Jesus grew up
and said, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have
not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his
father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her
mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household” (Matthew 10:34-36).
So the “great
joy” announced by the angels is a very embattled joy. It is a joy to be fought
for and a joy always under attack. Always threatened by tribulation. And the
call of Romans 12:12 is
not to rejoice without tribulation, but to rejoice in spite of, and even
because of, tribulation.
For us as Christians tribulation is the normal experience in our
things like sickness, calamity and death
and sometimes persecution for Christ’s sake. All in all tribulation is normal
and to be expected in this world.
Jesus knew all
these and he taught us that, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come
after me cannot be my disciple”
(Luke 14:27). Paul taught all the young
churches he established, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom
of God”
(Acts 14:22). Peter taught the churches,
“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test
you, as though something strange were happening to you”
(1 Peter 4:12). We know that tribulation is
a strange feeling but we need to make it normal. It is due to the first sin of our
Father Adam and Eva and we will continue to heritage in this sinful and futile
world.
Tribulations
are all normal and they are part of what we must live with on our way to
heaven. That is why Paul says “Be patient in tribulation.”
“We rejoice in our
sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance”.
As Christians we are required to rejoice in tribulation and not
just in health and peace and security.
Tribulation drives the roots of joy down into hope.
Romans 12:12 says,
“Rejoice in hope.” It looks like hope is the soil or the rock
in which joy is rooted—the ground where joy grows.
Romans 5:2,
“Through him [Christ] we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in
which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Our
joy is rooted in our hope. That is so crucial to see!
Therefore tribulation—trouble,
calamity, conflict, cancer, death—these are all the normal conditions of life
in this fallen world. But Christ has come at Christmas. He has broken into our
tribulation and taken it on himself. He carried our sin, and bore our curse,
and absorbed God’s wrath, and became our righteousness, and conquered death and
hell and Satan, and opened the door of paradise for all who trust him.
Similar bible verses which
you can relate to any situation in tribulation:
James
1:12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he
has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to
those who love him.
1
Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is
faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the
temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to
endure it
James
1:2-8 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various
kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And
let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete,
lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives
generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask
in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea
that is driven and tossed by the wind. ..
Therefore Jesus taught us that during or when we
are facing tribulations Never give up; never surrender. Remember
that your life is a witness to others even though you may not see it.
Dear God bless my 2013 to be your year in reaching your
word to the others. Amen
