I was walking at my favourite walking place the other day and I thought: “Who am I? Who am I to be so blessed to be able to walk here and enjoy the beauty of God’s creation?” I was filled with such gratitude! Then I recalled that when I was a child I had that same sort of gratitude – back then I thought: “Who am I? Who am I that I get to live in Canada – a country where there is no war, no drought and famine?” I was grateful.
But then I thought of the future, where I might be persecuted for following God, for standing on the truths of His Word, and I thought: “And then I will need to have the attitude of ‘Who am I? Who am I to share in the sufferings of Messiah?’ And I ought to be filled with gratitude.”
I confess, I don’t think of suffering for the Lord in that “who-am-i-to-be-so-blessed” way, but since my goal is to conform to God’s truths, I need to look to His Word. There, I see a lot about suffering. Here are just a few samples:
For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Messiah you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake (Colossians 1:29).
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5:11-12).
Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Romans 5:2-5).
I have thought of blessings in terms of good health, loving family, solid friendships, having plenty to eat, walking in my favourite park, etc. And all those things are definitely blessings, for which I am very thankful. But it seems that I need to expand my idea of what I am grateful for. May God help me. May He help me to say: “Who am I? Who am I that I should get to share in Messiah’s sufferings?” when that day comes.
