What's this? Two pure nard updates in a row?
The previous entry left of with how the disciples and I were both thick-headed. Well, today during Sunday school the disciples finally figured out who Jesus really was, and then He finally shares with them His mission. Four steps 1) He'll suffer. 2) Be rejected by elders, priests, scribes. 3) Die. 4) rise again. Key verse is Mark 8:34.
If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
If taking up the cross means enduring hardship and persecution, then I can't truly say that I've suffered while following God. My group was discussing this during Sunday school, and a person was sharing how she had not had the easiest life as a Christian. Now, we've both been going to HCC since we were toddlers, but we rarely talk and I don't know her that well. She only shared for a minute, but when that minute was over I was deeply moved. Her dad's not a Christian, and her younger sister has stopped going to church. Although her dad still loves her very much, she was explaining how tough it is to follow God when every other day your dad asks you "why do you go to church" or "what's the point of being a Christian?" The questions would just tire her out. I know that she knows the answer. I know that she knows that Christianity is so much more than just "religion", but that it's having that relationship with God, the creator of the universe and of mankind, the One who loves us so much He provided us a way into heaven through Jesus even though with our natural dirtiness and evil we don't deserve one bit of Him. But he does so anyways because of love, and that's what the relationship is all about: His love for us, and our love for Him. What's so hard is that she can't explain what I just explained to her dad, because he just wouldn't understand. I mean, that's persecution. It doesn't get any harder for an Asian Christian teen whose faith is questioned weekly by a parent who doesn't believe, a parent who we're supposed to love and respect. I was reading the person's face at the end, it was almost a look of helplessness. She was pretty sick of that weekly question whose answer, well, doesn't cut it. What kind of suffering do I have? The closest thing to "suffering" is when a friend jokingly calls me "Jesus" because he views me as "the Christian" in my group of friends. That's it. Nothing more than that.
The weirdest thing was that after she had finished sharing, another friend popped into my mind. This friend was in a similar situation, with a dad who not a very strong Christian, who's more of a "sort of" type Christian. Now, I've been praying for this friend off and on for about half a year. I believe this friend really wants to grow closer to God, but the parents emphasize schoolwork and grades a whole lot, so I can imagine it being very difficult for my friend to know God more while trying to honor the parents. What's weirder is that we haven't really talked much about anything for a good long while, yet this person popped into my head. So, I guess I'll just keep praying then.
posted by justin at 12:20 AM
