Although He was a Son, He learned obedience
from the things which He suffered. Hebrews:
5:8
A cancer survivor shared that verse with me. It was something that brought her comfort in her dark moments as the blend of cancer and chemicals waged war on her body.
I didn't remember ever reading the verse. And I may have even thought she was hallucinating and read it wrong. So I came back to my office and looked it up.
What could Christ possibly need to learn? If we believe in the deity of Christ, shouldn't he know everything already? And of all the things he should know, wouldn't obedience be pretty high up on the list? He came for a specific purpose, right?
While my mind was stretching to comprehend how that could be true, a more troubling question crept in… “What does that mean for me?”
I’m a pretty pain averse guy. If Christ, in his sinless nature, had to suffer to learn obedience, how much more do I need it to learn? At first there’s this twinge of fear. It’s a “what’s going to happen to me?” kind of fear.
But then there’s a more painful question, “Do I love him?” Christ said if I love him I will obey him. If suffering teaches me how to obey… shouldn't I welcome it?
My life is virtually pain free. I live with a level of affluence, privilege, comfort and safety missing in most of the world. How can I possibly learn to obey Christ, learn to love him better, if it is learned through suffering?
I’m not sure I've settled on what those questions mean for me. I’m pretty sure, the answers are sobering.
A cancer survivor shared that verse with me. It was something that brought her comfort in her dark moments as the blend of cancer and chemicals waged war on her body.
I didn't remember ever reading the verse. And I may have even thought she was hallucinating and read it wrong. So I came back to my office and looked it up.
What could Christ possibly need to learn? If we believe in the deity of Christ, shouldn't he know everything already? And of all the things he should know, wouldn't obedience be pretty high up on the list? He came for a specific purpose, right?
While my mind was stretching to comprehend how that could be true, a more troubling question crept in… “What does that mean for me?”
I’m a pretty pain averse guy. If Christ, in his sinless nature, had to suffer to learn obedience, how much more do I need it to learn? At first there’s this twinge of fear. It’s a “what’s going to happen to me?” kind of fear.
But then there’s a more painful question, “Do I love him?” Christ said if I love him I will obey him. If suffering teaches me how to obey… shouldn't I welcome it?
My life is virtually pain free. I live with a level of affluence, privilege, comfort and safety missing in most of the world. How can I possibly learn to obey Christ, learn to love him better, if it is learned through suffering?
I’m not sure I've settled on what those questions mean for me. I’m pretty sure, the answers are sobering.
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