I am very glad that Jesus warned me about suffering.
I don’t like pain, you see, so when I read episodes in scripture like the ones in Acts where the apostles rejoice after getting flogged, I know that this only happens because of Jesus. I know they can only rejoice because they recall what following Jesus would entail. Reading those incidents allows me to understand that the only way to endure the discomfort of pain is to see it in the context of how it aligns with the words of Jesus. It also helps that Jesus endured suffering and considerable pain both to take on the sin of the world and beforehand. As ever, Jesus is not calling us to do anything that He would not do. I don’t have to like pain, but I can endure it as long as I know it’s for the sake of Jesus.
That is also to indicate that suffering and enduring pain is not something I have to do on my own. I can do it with Jesus, who also places key people to help. That part of key people around me also highlights something significant that I learnt and continue to learn in following Jesus. That is, independence is not a sign of maturity; interdependence is. That means something about growth says we should only fully depend on God. That dependence enables us to know how to be interdependent with those that He positions strategically around us. We know full well we can’t do this on our own. The idea of the self-made man is a bid to suggest that we don’t need anyone else to succeed, but the truth is that we need people to thrive.
This is why I am glad for constituent parts. I appreciate how the songs I love come together. I love how each part is crucial to that experience, where the whole is greater than the sum of its numbers, yet each instrument and vocal part is required to play its part. I love that this is the principle of success in team sports and organisations endeavouring to do well in business. I love how this is significant to the Christian experience. God has deliberately put the Body together to realise that it can only properly function when each part plays its role in relation to the others around it. As I’m not right unless the whole body is well, so the Christian experience is not genuinely fruitful unless it’s in the context of related constituent parts flowing and functioning as they should.
There’s the constituent part in terms of people, and then, on recollection, there are the constituent parts in terms of those key experiences that help to build life. There is recognition that life comprises key parts that inform and shape how life operates. There are those constituent parts in terms of what went so right as well as what went so wrong that help to develop the character that endures and thrives.
Even the pain I don’t like can be viewed as a critical constituent part that vitally brings a greater appreciation of God, a desire to love others and a compulsion to pursue His Kingdom for His glory.
Some concepts make a mockery of constituent parts. People are given the impression that they are a constituent part, but they’re a matter of convenience and practicality. In Christ, though, He is not manipulating anyone for a season to get what He wants to dispose of them afterwards. He is faithful to His Word and lives it with us as we go through it to highlight how we are a constituent part of His Body and His work on the earth here and now. This truth should assure us as we go through pain. This pain should ignite us as we celebrate times of great success.
For His Name's Sake
C. L. J. Dryden
Shalom
