If someone in your life dresses you down the way Paul did his friends, it’s so that you can find Jesus and cast your cares on Him, for He cares for you. It is meant to cause you to face Jesus in a way that you wouldn’t do, apart from the pain. Paul said the Kingdom is entered with much tribulation. The only way to Resurrection Life is through a cross, and a cross is never without humiliation, it’s never without rejection, and it’s never without pain. You will never find a cross that’s real, if it’s lacking in any of those three things. You need to understand that and face those things.
“Get behind me, satan” was Jesus’ rebuke to Peter. How would you handle that correction? Would it repulse you? Would you reject it and say, “Now, wait a minute. Who are you to talk to me like that!?” If that’s your attitude, and you’re not willing to let Paul or the Life of God in the corporate Life of Jesus put you in a place where you feel the pain, then you’ll never really find Resurrection Power. God sovereignly orders these things for our good and for our growth. Whether they come from our roommates, spouses, parents, or even our children, it is God who sovereignly orders opportunities for us to face our own sinfulness, humble ourselves, and call on His name.
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so this is something from a teaching i was reading and it really has stuck with me. have to ask some of these things of myself.
rdg