Thursday, January 14, 2010

What we are not Promised

Each day I will be posting from the daily Bible Reading plan we will be doing at West Side. On weekdays we will be going through the New Testament. On the weekends we will read passages from the Old Testament books of Psalms and Proverbs. We invite you to join along.

There are many out there that teach a health and wellness version of the gospel message. This message states that if you follow Christ, if you give to his church, if you tell others about him then your life will be full of good health and ample resources. But as we look around, we know that this is not the case. We see people all around us who are hurting from divorce, who are afflicted with tumors, who are laid-off from work. We witnessed the devastation caused on Tuesday by the earthquake in Haiti. Does this mean the people afflicted are not good Christians? Absolutely not!

In Today’s reading (Matthew 10) Jesus is sending out his 12 disciples into the surrounding area. These will be the 12 men, excluding Judas, who will eventually turn the world upside down with the Gospel message. As he is sending them out he warns them about the hardships that they will face.

“Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. On my account you be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles.”

“All men will hate you because of me”

What a wonderful promise Jesus gives to his disciples! :) But no where in Scripture are we promised that if we follow Christ we are going to live a life without hardships. It is not the world we are living for, it is eternal life in heaven. There our reward is. There the hardships end. There peace reigns. Jesus does promise this… "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.”

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