This relates to our relationship with Jesus. We have to embrace the suffering we go through in order to get to what we are promised. We can't just experience eternity in heaven without going through some things here on earth. Things that we are going to have to go through. Life isn't easy. There is no way around suffering other than a relationship with Jesus and embracing the fact that as believers of Christ Jesus, we are going to go through a lot of difficult things.
"Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. Simarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not recieve the victor's crown, except by competing according to the rules. The hardworking farmer should be the first to recieve a share of the crops. Reflect on what I am saying to you and the Lord will give you insight to all of this." (2 Timothy 2:3-7)
I don't really know a ton about soldiers, but I do know that they are going to do whatever their commanding officer tells them. Sometimes that is going to battle. No matter if the soldiers think they are going to win or loose, they are going to do what their commanding officer commands them to do. They can't really say no unless they want to take the coward's way out and just give up.
As an athlete, if you don't compete by the rules, you not only loose the respect of everyone, but you cannot win. Every sport has rules and guidelines that you must follow that makes it all fair. It should be a natural inclination for athletes to follow the rules because typically, athletes are very competitive and want to win. In order to experience that feeling of victory, you just have to accept the fact that there are rules to follow. If you have kept up with the sports world lately, I am sure that you say the Houston Astros cheated when they won the World Series. They have lost the respect of everyone. Their bad decision making changes the entire MLB and every person of that organization has lost respect. As an athlete, you just have to embrace the rules that you have to follow.
The hardworking farmer must make sacrifices for his crops. It takes a significant amount of time to have a plentiful harvest. This might mean a little less family time, a little less time with friends. Generally, the farmer is going to have to make a sacrifice. For that sacrifice, the farmer should take the first share of his harvest in order to provide for his family. The farmer can't sacrifice all his time, to just turn around and sell his crops to make money and forget about the family. There are no short cuts.
Take it as you will, but to get where we want to in life, we can never take short cuts. Anybody who has taken a short cut and continues to do so won't have my respect until they embrace the suffering. For those out there who are suffering, join with me and all the other believers who are also suffering. God is faithful and will never fail us, only strengthen us, to make us the very best versions of ourselves. Remember, we aren't going to suffer all of the time! God is so good and life is so amazing! So when we have those speed-bumps in the road, embrace it because you are going to get to the other side and become a better person because of those things.
One more thing:
Reflect on what I am saying to you and the Lord will give you insight to all of this...
This is the perfect example of the work of the Holy Spirit. The Lord wants us to reflect on his words and he will gives us insight. If it wasn't for the Holy Spirit giving me insight to what I read and reflect on, I wouldn't have a blog. Every time I reflect on what I read, I am given insight to what I want to write about to encourage you all.
Let that be encouragement for you to really reflect on God's word. Don't just read it to say you did for the day.
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