You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. Hebrews 10:34
“Every Christian is required to be an instrument in God’s rescuing action, and His power will not be exerted through us except at considerable cost to ourselves. Muzzy, safety-first Christianity is useless here. We must accept the world’s worst if we are to give it our best. The stinging lash of humiliation and disillusionment, those unfortunate events which strip us of the seamless robe of convention and reserve and expose us naked to the world in the weakness of our common humanity, the wounds given by those we love best, the revelation that someone we had trusted could not be trusted any more, and the peculiar loneliness and darkness inseparable form some phases of the spiritual life, when it looks as though we were forsaken and our ultimate hope betrayed: all these are sufficiently common experiences, and all can be united to the cross . . . And indeed, unless we can do this our world is chaos; for we cannot escape suffering, and we never understand it till we have embraced it, turned it into sacrifice, and given ourselves in it to God.”
Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941) in The School of Charity: Meditations on the Christian Creed (New York: Aeterna Press, 2015).
There are aspects of generosity I am still trying to grasp in my own spiritual journey. This is one of them. When we abandon “muzzy, safety-first Christianity” we find that our role in becoming “instruments in God’s rescuing action” is showing those around us that the way of Jesus is not a cheap, quick fix for life’s problems. Instead, it’s a pathway that costs us everything, which may deter some folks, but those who take it find that the gain far outweighs the cost. One thing I am learning is to stop trying to avoid suffering, but rather embrace it and turn it into sacrifice. This is divine generosity.
Father in heaven, help me remember those who are suffering and learn to joyfully suffer and accept injustice against me because overcoming evil with evil never works. Help me overcome it with good, because I know I have You, and You are good, and Your love endures forever. By the Holy Spirit cause me to never forget this so that I serve as a generous conduit of divine generosity that converts suffering to sacrifice just like Your Son, Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.