I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
A Firm Foundation
We inhabit this beautiful-yet-broken world, so experiencing various levels of suffering is inevitable. Thankfully, for the follower of Jesus, it’s also temporary.
Peter—a disciple, apostle, and close friend of Jesus—wrote this:
“In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.”
1 Peter 5:10 NLT
Right before he wrote these words, Peter reminds God’s people that they’re not the only ones suffering. In fact, there are believers all over the world facing trials and hardships because of their faith in Christ.
“In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus…”
Because He lived the perfect life we couldn’t, died the brutal death we should have, and rose again so that we might be with Him forever, Jesus is able to invite us to share in His eternal glory. A glory that goes on forever and is humanly impossible for us to fully understand.
“So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you…”
For those who are in Christ, heartbreak is temporary, suffering is fleeting, and even death is short-term. Eventually, God is going to wipe away every tear once and for all, doing away with pain and sadness and crying—forever. God is going to make all things new (Revelation 21:4-5).
“…and he will place you on a firm foundation.”
That firm foundation was established before the beginning of time. It’s a good foundation, a true foundation, and a firm foundation. There is no other foundation that’s more worthy of our trust.
So whatever you’re currently walking through—no matter how hard, horrible, or absolutely heartbreaking—you can cling to this future reality. While suffering is unavoidable, you can know that its days are numbered.
His Pain, Our Gain
Isaiah 53 is a stunning chapter in the Bible—in what is now commonly referred to as the “Old Testament.”
Approximately 700 years before Jesus walked the earth, Isaiah prophesied about a suffering servant who would also, somehow and in some way, be exalted. A coming Savior, a future Redeemer, the long-awaited Messiah—whose death would ultimately bring life.
A portion of Isaiah 53 says this:
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:5 NIV
So, who was this man who would be pierced, crushed, and wounded because of someone else’s sins? Whose undeserved punishment would be the catalyst for healing? Whose life would be given as an offering—so that others might live?
Jesus Christ not only fits the description of the suffering servant who paid the ultimate price to buy His people back, redeem them, and set them free—He ...
“Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge...
