PAINFUL LOVE
“I speak the truth in Christ.” –Romans 9:1 St. Paul described his sufferings as follows: “…labors and imprisonments, with far worse beatings and frequent brushes with death. Five times at the hands of the Jews I received forty lashes less one; three times I was beaten with rods; I was stoned once, shipwrecked three times; I passed a day and a night on the sea. I traveled continually, endangered by floods, robbers, my own people” (2 Cor 11:23-26). Paul suffered greatly, and much of this was due to his own people’s hatred and persecution of him. Nevertheless, Paul had a...

