Suffering is not only the consequence of completing the commission, but it is God’s appointed means by which He will show the superior worth of His Son to all the peoples. Just as it was “fitting that He…should make the founder of [our] salvation perfect through suffering” (Heb. 2:10), so it is fitting that God save a people from all the peoples from eternal suffering through the redemptive suffering of Jesus displayed in the temporal sufferings of His missionaries.
— David Mathis (b. 1980), Pastor, Theologe und Autor, leitender Redakteur von Desiring God
Related Bible passage: HEB.2.10
Topics: Suffering & the Question of God, Witness & Mission, Grace & Redemption
Occasions: For Reflection
David Mathis
David Mathis (* 1980) ist ein US-amerikanischer evangelikaler Pastor, Buchautor und leitender Redakteur des Dienstes Desiring God im Großraum Minneapolis–Saint Paul. Theologisch im reformatorischen Baptismus verwurzelt, vermittelt er geistliche Übungen wie Schriftmeditation und Gebet nicht als gesetzliche Pflichten, sondern als alltagstaugliche Zugänge zu Gottes Gnade. Bibellesern bietet er praktische theologische und seelsorgerliche Impulse zur Vertiefung der persönlichen Andachtspraxis.
All quotes by David Mathis (7)
In our own woundedness, we can become sources of life for others.
Henri Nouwen
Ultimately mourning means facing what wounds us in the presence of One who can heal.
Henri Nouwen
C.S. Lewis
When we are crushed like grapes, we cannot think of the wine we will become.
Henri Nouwen
He has chosen not to heal me, but to hold me. The more intense the pain, the closer His embrace.
Joni Eareckson Tada
Etty Hillesum
God writes straight even on crooked lines.
Paul Claudel
God lets us walk no path that he himself has not walked, and on which he does not go ahead of us.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer