And..."A double minded man is unstable in all of his ways."

Pam

Amen, Pam.
That is another quote/verse that fits in perfectly here, along with the Matthew 6:24 that Jesus is repeating at the end of this post, which often people think is only about the love of money - "...one cannot serve God and mammon"(end of Mat. 6:24). Yet there are many things that a double-minded person might serve which makes them very unstable. All of which start with the "serving of self" first and then God second...with most people, who say they are Christians, unfortunately the Lord is lucky to be in the top 20 on any given day. In my walk the Lord taught me this over and over again. And when He is first: 'all things work for the good of those who love and trust in God' and abide in Christ.

"And what the master suffers will his servants suffer, for they serve his name."

Last night I was speaking with a college student who had come to minister to our youth group through a drama team. He made his way over to me and started talking about his relationship with the Lord. I glanced at his hand, and it said "3:10". I said, "What's 3:10?" He said Phillipians 3:10...and read me the verse below.

"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death..."

He asked me how we can share in His suffering. I told them that I thought by obeying God's Word to us that it might not always bring us fun times. There are times when we will have persecution for truly standing up for the Lord.

But as I got home, I thought about it some more. I think the whole point of Timothy's blog AND the verse in Phillipians is more of a heart (personal) issue. There are people in this world who will never suffer what Jesus endured for us on the cross. I do not think that eliminates them from suffering WITH Jesus. Are we truly moved in the deepest part of our hearts by what Jesus did for us? Do we LIVE for our Master the way we should? Do we feel the pain for others hurting the way Jesus does? How we serve shows others who our Master is--our compassion, our love, our hurt when we see sin hurting someone. This might be part of the suffering as well. I think this is so deep at many levels.