Luke 9:23, And He said to all, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” No pain, no gain. We’ve all heard the mantra. It is an understanding that if you want to pursue something worthwhile, difficulty and suffering are an inevitability. It is no different than pursing a relationship with Christ. James, in fact, wrote that we should consider pure joy when we face trials and temptations. If problems and pain are inevitable, perhaps we should learn to deal with them through the strength we receive from following Christ. Acts 5 tells a story of the apostles rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace because of the Name of Jesus. How do we get to that level of faith and contentment? Sunday morning, Frank will talk about these things in his message from 1 Peter 4:1-11.
