Saturday Night Devotions return

Dear readers!

     We just finished a wonderful 2 months of furlough in the US.  We were so blessed to be in so many great churches during that time.  While we were travelling from church to church during these last two months we only rarely posted a new devotional.  But now we are back in our home and in our ministries here in Thailand and so we will return to our weekly updated devotional entries.  May the Lord use the words to encourage His people.  Immersing ourselves in God’s Word and taking care of God’s people remain mainstays of our work here in Thailand, and it is our hope that in some way, these devotionals will continue to touch on both these desires.

     Thank you for praying for us.  We feel the need for your prayers.

Doug and Cheryl    

 

 

I Peter 2:19-21

     For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully.  For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently?  But when you do good and suffer for it, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.  For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.    

     Peter here commends us for enduring grief if we choose to endure because of “conscience toward God.”  Once again we are encouraged to be “mindful of God (ESV)” or conscience of God’s presence while at work.  We are instructed here to respond to mistreatment at work or elsewhere by silently praying, “Lord, I will quietly and patiently take this abuse just as Jesus quietly took the cross for me.”  It should humble and inspire us seeing that Jesus’ suffering was for the highest, most noble cause imaginable, yet God chooses to consider our sufferings in our mundane workplace somehow a picture and a comparison with the great sufferings of Jesus.  The amazing teaching here is that since Christ suffered for us on the cross, we can be encouraged to embrace suffering at work and in the world.  My how these verses transform our ordinary work efforts into something glorious!  We are somehow able to picture Christ’s death on the cross when we patiently endure people yelling at us and mistreating us at work.  Peter is quick to point out that not all suffering is comparable to Christ’s suffering.  If we mess up and suffer for it, this brings no praise to God, we must simply quietly take our punishment like a man.  But if we do well and suffer for it, we can quietly take our punishment like the Son of God.  May we all find proper inspiration in these words.