TO REIGN WITH CHRIST: DEVOTION FOR FRIDAY 6TH MARCH, 2015

           

TO REIGN WITH CHRIST                             Friday March 6, 2015

Text: 2 Timothy 2:12                                     Memory verse: 12

We gain many things when we become born again and live our lives for God. One of them is that we will reign with Christ but there are conditions for it. One of the conditions is that we have to suffer with Him and endure till the end. This is what Paul tells us here. ‘If’ as he used it here is a word of certainty and assurance. We should understand that a state of suffering and affliction for righteousness sake (Matthew 5:10, 11) on earth is one condition of obtaining our glorious inheritance in heaven. As we suffer, God is glorified, our graces improved, our love to the world mortified, our longings for heaven increased.

Do you want to reign with Christ? Then note that glory shall certainly follow sufferings (Matthew 10:33; Mark 8:38; Luke 12:9); “If we suffer with him, we shall be also glorified together” (Romans 8:17; 1 Peter 4:13). It is only when we suffer and endure that we can conform to Christ, our glorified Head in glory. Is that your desire? Then you have to endure all the abuses, neglects, insults, wants, etc, just to make it. The Lord is your strength.

Food for Thought: Matthew 24:13.

Prayer: God, grant me the grace to suffer and endure till the end.