Philippians 1:29 “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him”
Philippians 1:29 “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him”
Suffering for Christ? I don’t know if I’ve ever truly “suffered” for Him. Suffered like Paul? Suffered like the persecuted Church in China? I know I’ve certainly endured hardships and difficulties in my life. I’ve even gone through whole seasons where my circumstances were so unpleasant, I counted those years as personal trials. But I’ve never been beaten for Christ, never been arrested, never been persecuted out-right for my faith in Christ. Not yet, of course. So in a way, I can’t consider those difficulties as suffering for Christ; they were merely hard times I had to learn to endure.
This made me think of my life and what I’m currently going through/enduring. Is it all that Christ has for me? Is the life I’m living right now, the life God wants me to live? Forget just the sufferings, is everything I’m enduring—the good and the bad, the exciting and the mundane—is it really a part of God’s plan for me?
It’s easy to accept that you’re in God’s plan if you’re, say, doing obvious “ministry” things, preaching, giving to the poor, serving the Church in some far off country. But what of us “regular Joe’s”—those of us not blessed with a calling for so-called full time ministry? How can a 9 to 5er recognize the work of God in his life? How do we know we’re living the life he wants for us?
What’s the answer? I don’t think I properly know. Perhaps the first step is letting go of finding God’s plan in the corporeal bindings of the mortal world. “If we have food and clothing, we will be content.” All the trappings of this earth—and they are literal trappings—need to be forgotten. Do I have Christ? Am I walking with him? Can I hear his voice or know how to seek it? These are the things that matter. If I am walking with him, I should be able to shrug off the weight of this world and find the gems he’s hidden for me in the Spirit. Of course Romans 12:2 says it best, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
I think a key—a big key—in recognizing God’s plan in your life is understanding the season you are in. If I am walking with Jesus, he is letting me know what is going on—and how and when I need to act (much like he did for *Abraham, Moses, and David). But if we are having difficulty hearing him, it may be more than a matter of spending more time in the Word, or a few minutes in prayer.
Maybe we need to occasionally take a hard look at our present lives and ask ourselves if we are in God’s plan.
*Here’s a few examples: Genesis 12:1, Exodus 3, 2 Samuel 5:22
