This Is LoveSample

As a young girl, I read the story of Joni Eareckson Tada, who, as an active and athletic 17-year-old, met with a diving accident that would leave her with quadriplegia for the rest of her life. Now in her 70s, Joni has spent her entire adult life in a wheelchair, survived two battles with cancer, and dealt with chronic pain daily, and yet she is full of joy in Jesus.

For several decades, Joni has shared her life, testimony, messages, and music with thousands around the globe. The world may look at Joni and ask, “How? How is she so full of joy when she is so riddled with pain and disabilities?”

Joni’s answer is always Jesus. Her relationship with God gives her the strength for each moment. In her suffering, her dependence on Him is absolute.

I love this quote from her: “When life is rosy, we may slide by with knowing about Jesus, with imitating him and quoting him and speaking of him. But only in suffering will we know Jesus.”

Only in suffering will we know Jesus.

In good times, we may know Him at arm’s length. We may choose to keep a “comfortable” distance between God and ourselves, but we are stripped down to our most vulnerable in times of suffering. Our self-reliance and self-sufficiency come to a full stop. We reach the end of ourselves, and we have no option but to cling to Jesus. Intimacy is strengthened with God through our suffering.

The Bible is clear that we will all endure suffering. It’s not something we should surprise us, but may we pray our suffering draws us toward a God who endured the Cross for our sake.

This is love—that He came to be a suffering Servant, wounded and bruised, tortured and mocked, rejected and isolated so He could identify with our humanness and die in our place.

This is love

That God first loved us.

That God offers us forgiveness and freedom through Jesus.

That the God of the universe speaks personally to us.

That Jesus obeyed the Father and went to the Cross for our sin

That Jesus came to be a suffering Servant

May we respond to His love.

Lean In

Father God, Your Word says Jesus came into the world, but His own did not receive Him. It says Your Son had no place to lay His head. It says Jesus emptied Himself for us. He was bruised and stricken for our transgressions. Your Son was a man of sorrows, acquainted with suffering, but He endured suffering so we may have life, life to the full. May we be trained by our trials to be more like Jesus. May we grow in our intimacy with You through our suffering. Thank You for showing us what perfect love is. May we live in response to Your love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.