Thursday 25 July 2024
St James
2 Corinthians 4:7-15. Those who sow in tears, shall reap with shouts of joy – Psalm 125(126). Matthew 20:20-28.
Our rescue and our hope
The reading from Corinthians is our mantra for the times in which we live. This is a ‘cut out and put on the fridge’ type of reading. The humility of recognising the clay pots that we are, while acknowledging the supreme power of God, is not something a modern day ‘influencer’ would spruik. The reality that yes, we are often troubled, we do doubt at times, there are people who do not want the best for us, and sometimes we do feel hurt and downtrodden, pales into so many nothings when we realise we survived being crushed, we survived despairing, and we survived being destroyed. We flourished because of our lived experience of the merciful, patient and generous God, who constantly guides and protects us and lovingly encourages us through the most lonely and difficult times. This is the antithesis of much in our world today, where the concept of sacrifice or suffering is seen as something to avoid, while we attempt to wrap ourselves in treasure, not clay. Suffering in this life is unavoidable; it is not something that happens because you are following Jesus, but it is because we follow Jesus that our suffering is transformed into spiritual treasure. Dear Jesus, thank you for being the buffer in the storms of our lives, for lifting us up and holding us close during the times when we feared we were beaten. You are our rescue and our hope.
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