Isaiah 31-32, 2 Corinthians 13, Psalm 135: 1-12
2 Corinthians 13: 5 (ESV)
“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.
Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ
is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”
Verse 5 from 2 Corinthians 13 shows us Paul’s recommendation
to the Church of Corinth to ask themselves if they are really followers of
Christ. Paul told them that they need to test themselves if Christ in within
them. When I read the Bible commentaries on this line, I was struck by what Charles
Spurgeon wrote about this verse. Spurgeon wrote that “The true Christian
carries the cross in his heart; and a cross inside the heart, my friends, is
one of the sweetest cures for a cross on the back. If you have a cross in your
heart – Christ crucified in you, the hope of glory – all the crosses of this world’s
troubles will seem to you light enough, and you will easily be able to sustain
it.”
I never thought that having Christ in my heart meant to
think about how Christ was crucified for my sins, and all the pain and agony he
went through in his trial and his final death. If think about how Christ died
and suffered, I can see why my own troubles would never compare to what Christ
suffered and would seem paltry and insignificant. And if my troubles are that
small compared to Christ’s troubles, then my own season of trouble could easily
be sustained. I know we all tend to look at our troubles as so big and
horrible, but when we compare them to what Christ went through then there is no
comparison. I grew up Catholic and at Lent leading up to Easter we used to do walk
and view the Stations of the Cross in our church on Fridays and meditate on the
suffering of Christ. I never understood why we did this as a child, but now
after reading Spurgeon I understand the reasoning behind the practice. The
Stations of the Cross meditation needed to be performed so we could understand
what Christ went through and remember that our sufferings were nothing compared
to sufferings of Christ. I don’t remember ever being told why we did Stations
of the Cross at my childhood church, but I wished they would have explained it using
Spurgeon’s text. I might not have fully understood this explanation as a child,
but it would have made some sense to me as to why this ritual was practiced and
would have gotten more out of it as well.
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