Partakers of His Suffering

. . . but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings . . . —1 Peter 4:13

If you are going to be used by God, He will take you through a number of experiences that are not meant for you personally at all. They are designed to make you useful in His hands, and to enable you to understand what takes place in the lives of others. Because of this process, you will never be surprised by what comes your way. You say, “Oh, I can’t deal with that person.” Why can’t you? God gave you sufficient opportunities to learn from Him about that problem; but you turned away, not heeding the lesson, because it seemed foolish to spend your time that way.

The sufferings of Christ were not those of ordinary people. He suffered “according to the will of God” (1 Peter 4:19), having a different point of view of suffering from ours. It is only through our relationship with Jesus Christ that we can understand what God is after in His dealings with us. When it comes to suffering, it is part of our Christian culture to want to know God’s purpose beforehand. In the history of the Christian church, the tendency has been to avoid being identified with the sufferings of Jesus Christ. People have sought to carry out God’s orders through a shortcut of their own. God’s way is always the way of suffering— the way of the “long road home.”

Are we partakers of Christ’s sufferings? Are we prepared for God to stamp out our personal ambitions? Are we prepared for God to destroy our individual decisions by supernaturally transforming them? It will mean not knowing why God is taking us that way, because knowing would make us spiritually proud. We never realize at the time what God is putting us through— we go through it more or less without understanding. Then suddenly we come to a place of enlightenment, and realize— “God has strengthened me and I didn’t even know it!”

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與基督一同受苦

倒要歡喜，因為你們是與基督一同受苦。 （彼前四13）

如果你要蒙神使用，你便要經歷許多事；不是為你本身而遭遇，乃是要把你造成神手中合用的器皿，使你明白別人心裡的景況，以致不會因所遇見的感到詫異。 [唉，我不能應付那個人。 ]為什麽不能？神讓你有足夠的機會在他面前學習這功課，只是你故意避開，認為這樣花時間太愚蠢了。

基督受的苦不是普通人的苦，他乃是按神的旨意受苦，不是照人的看法受苦。只有當我們與基督連合，才會明白神的用意。基督教化的一部分，就是要明白神的目的。在教會歷史中，可以見到人逃避與主一同受苦的傾向；人總是想用自己的捷徑，以求完成神的使命。可是，神的道路卻必定是那漫長受苦的路。

我們有分於基督的受苦麽？我們肯不肯讓神把個人的野心除掉？肯不肯藉生命的改變，把個人的志向毀掉？這不是說可以完全明白為何神領我們這樣走：這樣會叫我們成為屬靈的自大者。當時我們無法知道神的心意，我們會或多或少有點誤解；過後，卻全恍然大悟，說：[看，神把我裝備了，我竟然不察覺！ ]

祈禱◆主啊，願那些在肉身上擔負重壓的人，能藉著你的支持來繼續承擔。願你使他們能避免敵人的嚴苛對待，願主的喜樂能奇妙地成為他們的力量。