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Have you noticed this?

That no sooner do you set your heart on something you consider exceptionally valuable and meaningful then the sacrificing starts?

You start to voluntarily give up interests or ideas that you know will not get you to where you want to go or that you know are in the way of getting there.

With that in mind, let’s ask the question: How is it that Jesus could come into this world knowing that he was going to experience a combined physical and spiritual suffering the likes of which no human being would or could ever experience?

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How could he do it?

Nietzsche — “He who has a why can bear any how.”

• If you know that your suffering is in the interests of your greatest aspiration, the highest good you can envision for yourself, your deepest longing then you will get through it no matter what.
• In other words, if your suffering is for the sake of something exceedingly meaningful and valuable to you, you will get through it no matter what.
• what do I mean by “you will get through it no matter what”? I mean you will not become bitter, resentful, angry, or discouraged over what you are going through. You will actually lean into it.

Analogy: suppose you have a young man whose deepest aspiration is to be a stand out tackle on the football team.

His coach gives him an intense, weekly weight room regiment to work on.

The more focused he is on his goal, the less the suffering in the weight room will bother him, right?

But if he goes into that weight room resenting the hours he has to commit to that and complaining all the while, doesn’t that call into question just how deep his passion is for being that outstanding football player?

Hebrews 10:5 — “Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.

Then I said, ‘Here I am — it is written about me in the scroll — I have come to do your will, my God.’”

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What was God’s will?

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In short, he went through all he went through so that we could be restored to friendship with God. His sufferings were not for him, they were for YOU.

“…Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” 1 Peter 2:21 (NIV)

So what were his steps?

1) To start with, what God really wants is not something external to you like your time or your possessions. He wants you, your whole self — your friendship.

2) Next he wants to imbue you with a vision for your life that is so beautiful, so valuable, so meaningful, so captivating, and that runs so deep within you that come what may you never complain, grow bitter, resentful, angry, or discouraged.

And we can say this much about that vision: that as with Jesus, it has to do with living and suffering whatever it takes to see others come home to friendship with God.

3) The third step has to do with the daily process. As with Jesus, he wants you to voluntarily give up interests or ideas that you know will not get you to where you want to go or that you know are in the way of getting there.

Jesus’ big sacrifice didn’t come out of nowhere. It rested on the shoulders of myriads of small ones where in the face of temptation he would have been constantly praying prayers rooted in the Psalms: “God, please deliver me” and, “God, have it your way, not mine.”