Follow Me

 

Follow Me (UNCLE KRACKER)

All you know is when I'm with you

I make you free

And swim through your veins

Like a fish in the sea

I'm singin'

Follow me

Everything is all right

1 Peter 2:18-25

Big Idea:

Because Jesus unjustly suffered for us, because in the midst of his suffering he said, Father forgive them, because we live in a broken and unjust world, because we all suffer, as followers of Christ we should suffer reflecting on the hope of the cross, on the knowledge that one fine day all will be made right and perfect, we should suffer with the love and grace of Christ as our foundation and motivation, we should turn to God in our suffering.

Looking to the cross, understanding, really understanding how our Savior suffered unjustly and with the divisiveness of our times, with the injustice, with Pandemics, with personal struggles; we can see we all suffer.  For me as I am currently suffering (barely - when reflecting on the suffering of Christ), I am somehow made aware of the blessings, the grace, the love of Jesus for me a sinner.  Somehow it makes me see and understand the call to suffer, it helps me “so that you might follow in his steps (v21).”

With Covid and currently with an extended flare-up of arthritis, I more clearly see glimpses of grace and the many blessing provided.  As I currently walk with pain and a limp, I smile thinking about how wonderful it was when I could walk along the beach, it filled me with gratitude to God for the grace, to Jesus for his rescue and to the Spirit for helping me along the way.  

What keeps us going?  Christ and him crucified! So I know one fine day we will all be walking pain-free again.

2 Corinthians 12:8-10

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Abba Father, help me delight in weakness, hardship, persecution, difficulties, even pain.  Help me always know that in my weakness, with you, I am strong.

Grace and Peace!