Daily Devotional for Thursday, May 21
The Contempt for the Cross
“And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God,” Luke 23:35.
The Oxford Dictionary defines contempt as, “the feeling that a person or a thing is beneath consideration, worthless, or deserving scorn.” The people, the rulers, the soldiers and the criminals crucified next to Jesus all mocked and scorned Him. They all viewed His crucifixion as proof that He was an abject failure. In their mind, God would never allow this to happen to Him if He was really the Christ, the chosen of God. This sounds reminiscent of Job’s miserable comforters that rebuked Job for apparently hiding some horrific sin as an explanation for the calamities and suffering God was allowing him to experience.
God always has a purpose and reason for allowing suffering in the life of one of His children. There is meaning in suffering. This is a fundamental and bedrock teaching in God’s Word. First Peter 2:21 records, “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.” The Bible encourages Christians to embrace suffering as a part of our faith journey, learning from and emulating Christ’s willingness to endure. We should look to Jesus as our model for how to carry our crosses. Hebrew 12:2 says, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” We should all be glad that Jesus did not call ten thousand angels to rescue Him that day! Praise God He endured in order to make a way so that all could be saved if everyone would only repent and believe in what He did!
THOUGHT FOR TODAY
Like Jesus, you can have joy if you embrace the suffering that you are experiencing having full confidence that God has a purpose and reason even if no one else understands in that moment.
Jonathon D. Smith