The Crown that Follows the Cross
This life might be a never ending struggle for you. But I am going to tell you that if you seek God always, it will be worth it. There will be glory beyond the suffering. There is a crown that follows the cross. And regardless of your circumstances you will have the peace of God guarding your heart.
When asked about the sporadic nature of my blog posts, my cookie cutter answer has always been, “I only write when I’m inspired.” That is a lie. Being inspired is a spiritual arousal; an influence beyond explanation. That has never been why I write. I write when I have something to say. Usually it aligns with a hot media topic. I read everyone’s opinion on social media and, not wanting to get in a pointless troll war, I refrain from ever commenting. So instead, I write a blog to say what I’m thinking and I call it inspired. HA.
So where did this revelation come from? Well, for the first time I am actually inspired to write. God has laid something on my heart. I am spiritually aroused. I am influenced beyond explanation to share what God is relentlessly revealing to me. I don’t know who this message is for. I really don’t think it’s for me. But God has been very persistent with this message and clear with how He wants me to deliver it. So here goes my first inspired blog post.
God thank you for giving me this message and encouraging me to share it. Thank you for Your persistence in my stubbornness and aloofness. Please use me to say what it is You want to say and put this in front of the eyes You know need to read it. In Jesus’ name, amen.
What this blog is not:
A compelling argument to convert people to Christianity.
An explanation to the evil and suffering in the world.
A testimony for my personal faith in Jesus Christ.
What this blog is:
A reminder of a promise.
“The worst day is not the last day.”
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. Romans 8:18
A realization of a truth.
“We are so loved by God we cannot comprehend it.”
How great is God—beyond our understanding! Job 36:26
Then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it. Ecclesiastes 8:17
A revelation of a future.
“The very best you can imagine does not come close to the reality of Heaven.”
However, as it is written: "What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived"- the things God has prepared for those who love him. 1 Corinthians 2:9
Over the course of a few weeks and through several different sources, God told me something. It isn’t anything revolutionary, but maybe someone needs to hear it. The following is a compilation of my accounts.
If the sun is out and I’m not at work you can probably find me at the beach. And that is where I was Sunday, April 15th, laying out reading Lee Strobel’s A Case for Faith. It just happens to be the book in the pocket of my beach chair right now. I had only been reading it at the beach, so it had been a week since I picked it up. I flipped to the folded page and began reading. I never made it past that page. I just kept rereading it over and over. I remember thinking this is important. I want to be able to repeat what he is saying here. He was talking about thanking God for the pain that befalls us. He notes that during our suffering it is perfectly right and honest to ask for deliverance from our suffering, but that is not the last word. You see, we can’t even begin to comprehend the infinite goodness of God and what eternity with Him in heaven will be like. If we could really understand the magnitude of this we would be screaming His praises even in the midst of our darkest times. The joy of God is going to infinitely outweigh the suffering and even joys of this life. In the book he quotes Saint Teresa: “In light of heaven the worst suffering on earth, a life full of the most atrocious tortures on earth, will be seen to be no more serious than one night in an inconvenient hotel.”
Day three of week three of a Hosea bible study I just finished fell about a week after that day at the beach. It was Monday, April 23rd. The day’s verse was Hosea 2:15B, “There she will sing in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.” One of Israel’s best days was being brought out of Egypt by God. Hosea 2:15B is God saying His redemption for us is past, present, and future. He promises to renew everything in our lives, good and bad. The day finishes with a reference to C.S. Lewis’ book The Great Divorce. It is an imaginary conversation between C.S. Lewis and George MacDonald. MacDonald tells Lewis, “Son, ye cannot in your present state understand eternity … That is what mortals understand. They say of some temporal suffering ‘No future bliss can make up for it,’ not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into glory.”
The next morning, Tuesday, April 24th, I was listening to the book Made to Crave by Lysa Terkeurston on Audible on my way to feed my horses. It was the end of chapter 11 that stuck with me. She was talking about the lies of the enemy and how we have to replace those lies with God’s truth and love. She quoted Ephesians 3:17-19, “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the LORD's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Love that surpasses knowledge. This is the kind of love God has for us; love that we can’t even fully understand.
I got to work later that same morning and got a text from a friend that read: “’Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.’ Ephesians 3:20-21 I love that word immeasurable. Like, God can do more than we can even fathom.” My eloquent response: “Ya it’s crazy to think we can’t even fully comprehend Him. Like our little pea brains are incapable, but yet we think we should question Him or not trust His word.”
On Sunday, May 5th I went to breakfast with a couple from church. We were talking about all sorts of things. At some point the conversation led to me telling them about this theme of temporary earthly suffering in comparison to the infinite and incomprehensible joy of Heaven that keeps reappearing to me. I told them I didn’t think the message was for me, but I couldn’t ignore how persistent God was being with the content. They suggested I write about it. Hmm.
I do First 5 through Proverbs 31 Ministry. Currently we are wrestling our way through the Minor Prophets. Difficult at times, but overall it has been a great experience. On Thursday, May 10th we started Habakkuk. Now Habakkuk is very unique among prophets. Typically a prophet goes to the people with a message from God. Well Habakkuk does the opposite. He goes to God on behalf of the nation to ask why God is allowing such evil to flourish. The first two chapters of Habakkuk consist of Habakkuk crying out to God and God responding. However, this isn’t the encouraging everything is going to be okay response we think of when we say God responds. God tells Habakkuk that He is raising up the Babylonians to punish Judah for their wickedness. Judah will suffer. But then in chapter three something astounding happens. Habakkuk, having just heard from God that He is going to unleash His wrath on Judah, recalls God’s greatness and yells praises to God his Savior. Habakkuk’s prayer opens with “Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord.” Verses 3-15 are specific accounts of God’s mighty acts, especially the Exodus from Egypt. What a practical lesson for us. When we are going through a valley we must remember God’s faithfulness and what He has already done for us. This life is a war, but we are fighting it from victory not for victory. The battle you are fighting has already been won by Jesus Christ. God is moving in ways the human mind can't comprehend, and He's faithfully working out His will. In verse 16 Habakkuk switches from recalling God’s works to proclaiming his faith in God. Habakkuk says even though he knows judgement and calamity is coming, he will “rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength;” Remember His faithfulness then rejoice in His goodness.
On Tuesday, May 15th I texted my friend, the same one who texted me the Ephesians verse, when I finished reading Habakkuk: “Habakkuk 3:16-19…He literally says I know God is about to let our enemies invade us and take us captive and punish us for our sins but I’m gonna rejoice in Him and be joyful…Like bruh! Talk about faith.” He responded in true Cory fashion: “Basically today sucks. And tomorrow doesn’t look much better. But God is still God. And I trust him.” He also told me that Matt Chandler did a series on Habakkuk years ago and sent it to me.
The next day, Wednesday, May 16th, I started listening to Matt Chandler’s Habakkuk series. In the very first sermon of the series he says suffering is not punitive. We know this because all the wrath of God towards us was absorbed on that cross when Jesus hung on it. We have nothing on our life but mercy, which means whatever happens, good or bad, has everything to do with God’s glory. That stuck with me. We are not being punished. Ever. Everything that happens is allowed by God and will be worked for God’s glory.
In February of 2017 my best friend and I started a group text message with about 10 girls. While all in the same age range, we are all in very different areas of life and at different stages in our walk with Jesus. We mostly just share scripture or worship songs. Once in a while we will get a prayer request. Some girls share regularly. Some girls have never shared. My hope is that, even if just once, the right message will come at the right time to the right girl through this group text message. Anyways, that next morning, Thursday, May 17th, I was at the gym and my phone lit up with a text from the group message. It was one of the girls who is still in the “searching” stage of her walk. She was actually added to the group message about a year after we started it and just recently started sharing scripture with the group, which is awesome! Well this specific morning she shared James 1:12, “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the lord has promised to those who love him.” I immediately thought of the section on Patience in Suffering in James 5. Be patient because the Lord is coming. There is that promise again. We count blessed those who persevere. Trust in that. James 5:11 talks about Job’s perseverance during his extreme suffering. My favorite summation of Job is a quote by Tim Keller, “Job never saw why he suffered, but he saw God, and that was enough.” Is God’s promise of eternity with Him enough for you?
My thoughts, for whatever they are worth:
We live in a broken world. There is suffering that we do not understand. But God doesn’t ask us to understand. He asks us to trust and love Him with all our heart. That is it. That is all He asks. For us to trust Him and His word. And He promises us joy beyond our comprehension. Joy that will make our worst day inconsequential. None of this is because we deserve it, but because He loves us. We cannot merit this love and we cannot forfeit it. This is a kind of love we can’t even understand. I don’t know what you are going through right now. I’m not trying to make small of your sufferings. I’m not going to tell you it gets better. Truth be told it might not. This life might be a never ending struggle for you. But I am going to tell you that if you seek God always, it will be worth it. There will be glory beyond the suffering. There is a crown that follows the cross. And regardless of your circumstances you will have the peace of God guarding your heart. You see, the God that gave His only Son in exchange for you made you a promise; a promise sealed with the blood of Jesus. That those who confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead will inherit a Kingdom greater than anything imaginable. There is a crown of glory with your name on it.
Suggested Scripture:
Romans 8:18-25
Romans 8:31-39
1 Peter 1, 3, and 4
James 1
Job 1:20-21
Acts 5:41
Philippians 1:29
2 Corinthians 4:17
Revelation 21
2 Corinthians 1
Suggested Sermon Series:
By recommendation of one friend, my other friend and I have been binge listening to sermons from The Village Church. It started with the series A Beautiful Design and we were both hooked. On Tuesday, May 22nd, the latter friend sent me a sermon series from them called The Theology of Suffering. I highly suggest taking the time to listen to it, but I will give you my takeaways. The series is broken into four parts: Purpose, Response, Hope, and Security. Week one: God’s Purpose in Trials James 1:1-12. This sermon was further broken down into three parts. Verses 2-4 is perspective. We are to consider it joy when we face trials. He notes this does not mean we act joyful, jumping up and down when tragedy comes, but because we know that trials are a test of our faith and everything works to the good of God, our perspective is joy. Verses 5-11 is our response. Our response in suffering should be to ask God for His wisdom with complete faith in Him. The swimming pool analogy of a double-minded person stuck out to me here. A dad tells their kid to jump in the pool and he will catch them. The child is dealing with conflicting truths about Dad and about water: Dad protects; water drowns. The child is saying, “I trust you, but I don’t like what is in front of me.” Suffering is our pool and God is saying, “If you don’t jump, I have nothing to offer you.” Verse 12 is the result of our suffering and the Bible tells us those who persevere under trials are blessed. Week two: Our Response to Trials James 1:13-18. The way we know we are listening to the counsel of God is by the Spirit’s power we walk away from our trials more like Christ than before the trial. For we know “God can only give out of his own nature, and he is 100 percent good, so it's impossible for him to give something out of evil intent.” So if we know this to be true, how do we respond? How do we walk away from our trials looking more like Jesus? He tells a story of a man who lost his newborn to SIDS. A few months after the tragedy he was going around ministering to other families who had lost children as well. When asked how he was able to do it, he opened his Bible to 2 Corinthians 1 and on that page was the handprint of his baby that had died. He said, "God's purpose in this is that I would find the healing Christ provides and then I would go and I would give it away to others who need it so desperately in their situations." Week three: Our Hope in Trials Romans 8:17-25. We are heirs of God and we share in His suffering so we can share in His glory. But our sufferings are nothing compared to the glory that we will have. A glory that is described to us in Revelation 21. A new place where God dwells among us and there is no more crying, pain, or death. Week four: Our Security in Trials Romans 8:31-39. We have a blood bought security with no opposition, no accusation, no condemnation, and no separation. For nothing can separate us from the love of God that is Christ Jesus.
