This idea of thin places is all about flipping our normal thoughts. Peaks were valleys of hardships. Valleys are walking in normal complacency. Something else that flips is our purpose in suffering. Without Christ, suffering can be a pointless thing. All that I hope for you to know and to take away from this idea is to know that your suffering has meaning and is worth it.
We last talked about Jesus and the thin place that was his death. It was both a physical and spiritual thinness. Remembering the cross, the wonderful terror that it was, is where we can start looking at thin places in life.
Sharing in Suffering
Our tendency is to run from the pain and the hard things in our lives. It’s basic human nature, such a reflex that we can’t always control. But something that is so unique and special about this life we walk in with Jesus is that he invites us into his suffering. He invites us into this thin place.
Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.
1 Peter 4:13
Partnering with Christ in his suffering is walking in thin places with him. Being glad to suffer isn’t our usual bent in life, but walking alongside Jesus builds a relationship that can bring hope and gladness.
Finding Purpose in Hardship
I talked in part one about the time I learned about thin places. It was so revolutionary for me to hear that my suffering and the sadness I was feeling was worth it.
That’s what I want you to hear.
Thin places are all about journeying. Taking steps to find the hard places in life to connect with our Lord without pretense. To feel the pull of eternity on our raw hearts. For that space between us and the unseen to become very small.
Jesus invites us to partner with him in our suffering, to put purpose in it. So, let’s embrace the thin places in life. To live in, to fully experience the places we can see him more.
I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Philippians 3:10-11
