…always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. – 2 Corinthians 4v10
As I read through this section of scripture I have some questions. Not criticisms I hope, but questions. I read about Paul “always carrying about the dying of the Lord Jesus” and yet I see Christians today who seem to have no concept of what that means. I realise that suffering can exist even is the midst of wealth and prosperity, but I have a hard time reconciled the prosperity of the church today with carrying about the dying Jesus. In some parts of the world Christians drive to multi-million dollar megaplexes in SUV’s equipped with DVD players and Playstation games to entertain the kids on the way in. When they get to church they join the other SUV’s in the car park and head into church for a latte and croissant on their way to the Family Life Centre where they talk about sports and the struggles of raising children in their two income families. Plush carpets and padded pews along with six figure sound systems await them in the worship centre to celebrate a pop star home boy Jesus.
How does this all work out? Try as I might I can’t reconcile that to the words in 2 Corinthians 4v10. As I read about the Christian life I read about fiery trials, testings, and battles. I read about attacks and persecution. I read about being beaten down. I read about discouraged servants of God. I read about carrying about Jesus, not the contemporary media star, but His dying body. Maybe I am missing something here.
This passage is clear in my mind though. How do we manifest the life of Jesus in our bodies? By carrying with us His dying, brutalised, suffering body.
More questions than answers today. .
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