Comfort

I woke up with the phrase "but for the joy set before Him" on my mind this morning. What an amazing thought that Christ was able to endure the pain and humiliation of the cross by focusing on the joy set before Him. The coming eternity of sitting at the right hand of God, the grace extended to all generations of lost souls, the celebration of the triumph over death and sin. Jesus focused on the joy set before him and was able to press through the pain and suffering in His now.

There is so much truth and so many lessons in that phrase. As I seek to live a dangerously obedient life, I find that many times I ask the question, "did God really ask me to do this?" A few steps into obedience, when the glory of newness has worn off, I start looking around. I compare what is required of me with what other people are doing. I start thinking of all the discomfort and ache that will accompany me on the new path and I start to reconsider. The funny thing is that I can justify disobedience every time. I can find people who say it is ridiculous to think that God would require this new sacrifice, I can find Bible verses that seem to muddy the water, and I can tell myself that God does not require masochism and doesn't really want me to be so uncomfortable.

Thank God that Christ had totally different thoughts. He could have easily reasoned, in His human nature, that God could not really want to let His only son die such a brutal death at the hands of mockers. He could have quoted prophesy about the plan for Him to rule and reasoned that would not be best accomplished through death. He could have called on His knowledge of the loving nature of His father and said, "The Father would never require something so painful!"

But He didn't. He turned His face toward the joy that was set before Him. He despised the shame, but He embraced the truth that obedience brings unbelievable joy that lasts for eternity.

So when I feel alone and strange, when I am aching and uncomfortable, when obedience makes me the object of misunderstanding and ridicule, I can draw great comfort from the phrase "but for the joy set before her, she endured..."