Allow God To Make It Redemptive

June 5, 2019

Allow God To Make It Redemptive

Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.

2 Corinthians 4:10

In the glorious chapter four of Second Corinthians, Paul affirms that we are fragile human beings. We are fragile both in our physical bodies, and also in our human emotions.  In verse seven, Paul uses the metaphor of clay jars or earthen vessels to describe our human weakness. Paul goes on to say that even though the trials and tribulations of life assail us, even though we may get knocked down, we are not destroyed. God uses the difficulties of our lives in a redemptive way so that, “Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies” (2 Corinthians 4:10).

Jesus embraced the symbol of his brokenness, the cross, and made it redemptive for all humankind. We too are invited by God to embrace our brokenness, and thus allow God to make it redemptive to those we encounter. How do we do this? One way is to make a list of all the places where we are broken.

We can begin with the places that our body is broken and scarred. Then list the ways our hearts have been broken. Are there any broken relationships in your life? If so, list them. For many, the ways the world, and even our own nation seem to be turning against people of faith is affecting our spirit. Are we becoming less hopeful and more cynical? If so, we can add our broken spirit to our list. You get the idea, so keep at it until you have included all the ways your body, your mind and your emotions have been wounded in life. When you complete your list, submit it to God and ask for His blessing:

My Takeaway: I suggest this simple prayer as a way to submit our lists to our Abba Father: “Loving Father, please bless my brokenness for my purification and sanctification, and may my brokenness be used by you for your redemptive purposes. Amen.”

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2019 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.