Our paragraph topic is:
(The mother of James and John) Part 6.
Often times when we come to our Father asking for something we do not have a complete understanding of what we are doing. We ask with the understanding that we want what we are asking. We ask with the understanding that we are worthy of asking. We ask with the understanding that we will get what we are asking for. And we ask with the understanding that we will get what we are asking for right now or in the near future, according to our timetable. It is oftentimes that we learn that our timetable does not matter and that can be frustrating or disappointing. We must learn patience in order to see that our Father has granted us what we asked for.
It is in the misunderstanding that we get confused. We do not know the consequences of our actions. Our Father knows all. He knows when and how we will get what we ask. He knows the consequences of giving us what we want. And he knows what is the desire of our hearts instead of desires of our request. It is in that knowing, and in that seeing that we are lacking. He is our Father. It was in that same unknowing and unseeing that the mother of James and John asked for her sons to sit at the right and left hand of Christ. They did not know what they were asking. They only desired to be seated with power and recognition. They did not understand that there were requirements to obtain such a seat. This is why Christ asked them: "Can you drink of the cup of which I am about to drink?"
They wanted power and recognition but did not know the consequences of what they were asking. They did not understand what was required of them. They did not know what they would have to suffer, what they would have to endure, what they would have to battle to be with him. For surely they would have to battle the forces of evil. Surely they would have to endure the constant pressure of those who were evildoers. Surely they would have to suffer the torture at the hands of evil to become like Christ. But did they understand the cup of suffering they would have to endure? Did they truly know what they were asking?
One does not suffer in vain. One does not endure the hardships, the pain, the slings and arrows of oppression without a cause to carry them through. And that cause must be justified enough to transform the person into something better, something more wonderful, more lasting, more beautiful than what they had before. For without the cause one suffers in vain. Without the cause one only endures to a point and then gives up. But with the cause one is transformed in the person that will endure to the end. Christ was the cause. He was the be all and end all that allowed the apostles to be transformed into persons that gave all.
Can we drink from the same cup that he did? Can we become transformed into new beings that are willing to suffer to the end? Or are we just those persons that will only go so far and give up without enduring all? Christ gave his all. Can we give our all? What cause do we have that will transform us into new persons that will allow us to give our all to him? We live in a world that is consumed with self. We are given to be wholly in this world. Yet we are not from this world. We are children of our Father and he gave us the life that we have today, true life, eternal life. And the knowledge and wisdom of the understanding of the life that is given us is the transforming factor that makes us who we are, not of this world but of a heavenly kingdom. Do you belong? Are you of the heavenly kingdom? Are you transformed? Then yours is the cup to drink along with all your brothers and sisters.
Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.
Often times when we come to our Father asking for something we do not have a complete understanding of what we are doing. We ask with the understanding that we want what we are asking. We ask with the understanding that we are worthy of asking. We ask with the understanding that we will get what we are asking for. And we ask with the understanding that we will get what we are asking for right now or in the near future, according to our timetable. It is oftentimes that we learn that our timetable does not matter and that can be frustrating or disappointing. We must learn patience in order to see that our Father has granted us what we asked for.
It is in the misunderstanding that we get confused. We do not know the consequences of our actions. Our Father knows all. He knows when and how we will get what we ask. He knows the consequences of giving us what we want. And he knows what is the desire of our hearts instead of desires of our request. It is in that knowing, and in that seeing that we are lacking. He is our Father. It was in that same unknowing and unseeing that the mother of James and John asked for her sons to sit at the right and left hand of Christ. They did not know what they were asking. They only desired to be seated with power and recognition. They did not understand that there were requirements to obtain such a seat. This is why Christ asked them: "Can you drink of the cup of which I am about to drink?"
They wanted power and recognition but did not know the consequences of what they were asking. They did not understand what was required of them. They did not know what they would have to suffer, what they would have to endure, what they would have to battle to be with him. For surely they would have to battle the forces of evil. Surely they would have to endure the constant pressure of those who were evildoers. Surely they would have to suffer the torture at the hands of evil to become like Christ. But did they understand the cup of suffering they would have to endure? Did they truly know what they were asking?
One does not suffer in vain. One does not endure the hardships, the pain, the slings and arrows of oppression without a cause to carry them through. And that cause must be justified enough to transform the person into something better, something more wonderful, more lasting, more beautiful than what they had before. For without the cause one suffers in vain. Without the cause one only endures to a point and then gives up. But with the cause one is transformed in the person that will endure to the end. Christ was the cause. He was the be all and end all that allowed the apostles to be transformed into persons that gave all.
Can we drink from the same cup that he did? Can we become transformed into new beings that are willing to suffer to the end? Or are we just those persons that will only go so far and give up without enduring all? Christ gave his all. Can we give our all? What cause do we have that will transform us into new persons that will allow us to give our all to him? We live in a world that is consumed with self. We are given to be wholly in this world. Yet we are not from this world. We are children of our Father and he gave us the life that we have today, true life, eternal life. And the knowledge and wisdom of the understanding of the life that is given us is the transforming factor that makes us who we are, not of this world but of a heavenly kingdom. Do you belong? Are you of the heavenly kingdom? Are you transformed? Then yours is the cup to drink along with all your brothers and sisters.
Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.
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