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•21然而，我说句蠢话，人在什么事上敢夸口，我也敢夸口。22他们是希伯来人吗？我也是。他们是以色列人吗？我也是。他们是亚伯拉罕的后裔吗？我也是。23他们是基督的用人吗？我说句狂话，我更是。我比他们忍受更多劳苦，坐过更多次监牢，受过无数次的鞭打，常常冒死。24我被犹太人鞭打五次，每次四十减去一下；25被棍打了三次，被石头打了一次，遭海难三次，一昼一夜在深海里挣扎。26我又屡次行远路，遭江河的危险，盗贼的危险，同族人的危险，外族人的危险，城里的危险，旷野的危险，海中的危险，假弟兄的危险。27我劳碌困苦，常常失眠，又饥又渴，忍饥耐寒，赤身露体。28除了这些外表的事以外，我还有为众教会操心的事天天压在我身上。29有谁软弱，我不软弱呢？有谁跌倒，我不焦急呢？
当你读到这些话你会为保罗感到难过吗？不必。彼得前书4章13节：“倒要欢喜，因为你们是与基督一同受苦。” 当我们背起十字架跟随耶稣时，我们会为我们的信仰受苦，就像耶稣受苦一样。当我们受苦时，并不会为我们赢得任何进入天堂的权利。但在某种程度上，当我们受苦，能让我们更好地理解耶稣是如何为我们受苦的。保罗被鞭打了五次，每一次被打他都能想起耶稣所遭受的痛苦；保罗也经常被拒绝，我们可以想象，当耶稣被那些原本他要拯救的人拒绝的时候，他所受的痛苦。
在保罗列举的一连串苦难中，有一段给我留下了深刻的印象。“除了这些外表的事以外，我还有为众教会操心的事天天压在我身上”。今天，我们可以为那些蒙上帝呼召，在各处服事的属灵领袖们而感恩，那些总会的主席，神学院的院长等等。他们中的很多人除了服事自己的教会，还要监督其他教会。这可不是一件容易的服事。正如保罗说的，“为众教会挂心的事，天天压在我身上。”你可以从保罗写给众教会的书信中看到这种挂虑。
祷告：主耶稣，我们为你的恩典和赦免的好消息而称谢你，也感谢所有在我们之前服事的前辈你的仆人，他们将福音传播到地极，他们甚至为信仰付出了生命。阿们。
2 Corinthians 11: Whatever anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? (NIV)
Do you feel sorry for Paul when you read these words? Don’t. N 1 Peter 4:13, it says, “Rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ.” When we take up the cross and follow Jesus, we will suffer for our faith, just as Jesus suffered. We don’t earn any bonus points for heaven when we do that. But in some small way, we can appreciate better what Jesus suffered for us. Paul was scourged five times. With each stroke he could imagine what Jesus suffered. Paul was rejected often, and could imagine what Jesus suffered when he was rejected by the people he came to save.
There is one passage that struck me in Paul’s litany of suffering. “Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.” Take a moment today to be thankful for those individuals who have been called to supervise missions and congregations: circuit pastors, district presidents, mission board chairmen, synod presidents, and the like. Many of them serve their own congregations as well as supervising others. That’s not an easy task. Like Paul said, “I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.” You see that concern in the letters that Paul wrote to those churches.
This devotion is being written on Memorial Day, a day we give thanks for soldiers and police and firefighters who have risked their lives for us. Give thanks as well for the saints and martyrs on whose lives God has built his church.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, we gave thanks to you for your message of grace and forgiveness, and for all those who have gone before us, who carried that message to the ends of the earth, even to the point of giving their lives for the faith. Amen.