He Took Our Troubles

Scripture

For Christ did not please Himself; but, as it is written, “The insults of those who insult You have fallen on Me.” 

~Romans 15:3, NRSV

Quote

We can change or control how people treat us, but we control our response.

~Vitktor Frankl

Paul is quoting Psalm 69:9, It is zeal for your house that has consumed me; the insults of those who insult You have fallen on Me. Eugene Peterson’s message reads, “I {Jesus} took on the troubles of the troubled.” There are two ways of looking at this incredible verse. Peterson’s paraphrase is the first: Jesus left the comforts of heaven to take on our troubles. Jesus was raised in poverty and obscurity and at age 30 entered into a three year ministry of self-giving sacrifice. He literally took on our problems and that includes our guilt and shame. Jesus was treated inhumanly for our sakes. He was hated and rejected because He was good and He told the truth but it did all this in our behalf. He became a man of sorrows and He was well acquainted with grief due to His taking on our flesh with all its inherent problems. So this Psalm certainly applies to Christ.

But it also applies to us. If you bear the name Christian, you will suffer for just as surely as the unbelieving world hates Jesus, they will hate us also. People do not have to know us personally to hate us because they hate the things for which we stand. A former student of Danville High School told me an interesting story the other day. A teacher at the high school accused him of being brain washed by the church across the road. The student had dared to challenge this teacher on the subject of evolution. This intellectual and moral midget, masquerading as a teacher responded to a high school students with insults. A teacher insulting a student because he believed in creation and a Creator. For a long time, I did not know this teacher: I could not have picked him out of a line up. I had never spoken to him or met him to my knowledge. One day I walked into a business located in Hartselle and he was there: Immediately, he got up and left. Someone whispered, “That man hates you.” I said, “Impossible, I do not know the man.” They said, “He knows you and he despises you.” Maybe it was the 8X14 bill board in our front yard that read…ABORTION IS MURDER. These insults have nothing to do with my less than charming personality: the man didn’t know me. I had never spent one moment with him. He hated me for my stand on abortion. If you don’t have the skin to bear the reproach, remove the bumper sticker that reads, “I’m A Christian.” If they insulted Jesus, and they did, they are going to insult us. Rejoice and be glad, you have a great reward waiting in heaven.

Praise the LORD for the few hours of sunshine yesterday. SNOW tonight! Aunt T loves snow.

American’s make up only 6% of the world’s population; yet we use 90% of the world’s drugs. This is not good. Twenty veteran commit suicide daily. There are 70 million American’s who are 60 or older. This means that over one out of every five American’s is a senior adult. I think it is around 22% are 60 and above.

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