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Key Bible Verse: In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering (Hebrews 2:18). Bonus Reading: Isaiah 42:1-9

A young professor lived some distance from his family. When his parents queried, "Do you have a good preacher at your church?" the son answered laconically, "Yes." Pressed for a fuller explanation, the young man responded, "Mother and Daddy, we have a very fine preacher. He's gifted, studies hard, is well-versed." Then he paused and said, "But he hasn't suffered enough."

This perceptive young man recognized that although the words were eloquent and the doctrine orthodox, a vital component was missing. When you and I are called to be examples, we must expect suffering to be an essential element in our preparation. The divine Designer will strike painful blows as He shapes us into the pattern He has in mind.

—Hudson T. Armerding in The Heart of Godly Leadership

Personal Challenge:

• Invite the Lord to pattern you in the image of Himself.

Jesus' suffering was distinct from what we experience because he suffered as our Sin-bearer. The Bonus Readings for this Holy Week all come from Isaiah. Isaiah prophesied about an Anointed One who would be humiliated and misunderstood, voluntarily suffer, meet an undeserved death, yet be exalted and victorious.

Thought to Apply: God had one Son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering

— AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO (BISHOP AND PHILOSOPHER, 5TH CENTURY

Credits: Adapted from— Monday: The Heart of Godly Leadership (Crossway, 1992)

Copyright © 2000 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity. For reprint information click here

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