Mark 8:31-9:1
Mark 8
31 And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. 33 But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. 34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospels, the same shall save it. 36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? 37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
Mark 9
1 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.
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God is always with us, even if we don't hear his voice. We just have to be patient and keep on listening.
Lent has always been very important to me, and I generally thrive on these weeks of reflection and meditation for God to perform a deep realignment of my spiritual life- deepen my prayer, regenerate my spirit, and reaffirm his love in my heart and the message that I am on the right track. However, this Lenten season has not felt as fruitful as previous years. I haven't been keeping regular prayer; I've been distracted with thoughts of stress and chores unable to focus on my journey with God. Worst of all, I haven't been able to keep my Lenten promise.
It is a promise to practice 'joyful suffering.' A chance for me to realize that sometimes I need to suffer with Christ to fulfill God's holy plans. It is an effort to relinquish my need for control, to let go and realize that it is possible that God can do a better job at designing my life than I can, even if what he suggests seems uncomfortable at first. Many people have suffered for Christ: why should I be above such an honor?
To my disappointment, I haven't even actually learned how to 'suffer joyfully,' let alone practice it. And while I'd like to think we can all be successful in our spiritual desires, sometimes we are weaker than we imagine and don't actually reach our expectations. But the good news is, God loves us anyway. And He is there to help us reach our goals. God finally spoke to me today, when I stopped talking and started listening - "I love you. I love you just as much today as the day I died on the cross. And I love you even though you are weak and fall down."
It was just the reminder I needed to hear, just when I was about to give up on myself in despair. He reminded me that even when we are weak and don't meet our expectations he is there by our side. And He loves us. Remember that as He was walking to the cross, He saw your face. And He died because He was willing to love us, even with our imperfections. If Jesus could keep walking to that cross of death for us, then we can keep walking towards our cross of life with him. Let that thought energize us in this last stretch of Lent. Let it remind us that God is with us, and He's cheering us on in our journeys as we carry our crosses to his kingdom.
Pray: "Lord, I accept, as you did, whatever sufferings cannot be taken away. I trust, as you trusted, that God will somehow make this something good. And I trust that if you are with me, I can do it. Amen."
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