Familiar with suffering

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. ---Isaiah53:3

Our suffering is different from that of the Lord; we are to endure, experience, but do not have a close relationship with the anguish. From the beginning, we refuse to accept the fact of sin, and adopt a rational view for life, thinking that if we restrain ourselves and educate ourselves, our life will gradually become like God. But after a long time, we will realize that something is not intended by us, which is the sin. It ruins all our plans. Sin puts the cart before the horse and makes no sense. We must admit that sin is a fact, not a defect; sin is a rebellion against God with bare hands. Either God will die or sin will die in our life. The truth of the new testament confronts us with this problem. If sin rules in me, God’s life in me dies; if God rules in me, sin will die in me. There can be no other result. Man’s heinous sin is to crucify Jesus Christ on the cross. The history of God on earth equals the history of your life and mine. We must acknowledge that the only reason Jesus came into the world was because of sin. It must be admitted that sin is the cause of human suffering.

Dear God, you are timeless because “a thousand years seem to you like yesterday.” For me, however, it was quite different. You have made me up for the years consumed by the corruption and made me a new person in Christ. Please accept my gratitude for you.

Familiar with suffering