The editor publishing the letters written by Mother Teresa, the Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk, told Time magazine he thought to himself, “Wow,” upon reading what he considers Teresa’s “most moving statement.”

"When she wrote, 'I am willing to suffer ... for all eternity, if this [is] possible,’ I said, Wow," Kolodiejchuk told Time.

The magazine goes on, “He contends that the letters reveal her as holier than anyone knew. However formidable her efforts on Christ's behalf, it is even more astounding to realize that she achieved them when he was not available to her — a bit like a person who believes she can't walk winning the Olympic 100 meters. Kolodiejchuk goes even further. Catholic theologians recognize two types of ‘dark night’: the first is purgative, cleansing the contemplative for a ‘final union’ with Christ; the second is ‘reparative,’ and continues after such a union, so that he or she may participate in a state of purity even closer to that of Jesus and Mary, who suffered for human salvation despite being without sin. By the end, writes Kolodiejchuk, ‘by all indications this was the case with Mother Teresa.’ That puts her in rarefied company.”

Of course, this is all just a bunch of garbola that has nothing to do with the Word of God. As Hebrews 11:6 states so succinctly, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

In this same chapter from Hebrews is listed a great hall of faith of saints down through the ages who by faith pleased God: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sara, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Gideon, Samson, David, Samuel. . .

We’re told they were people who simply took God at His Word—just believing what God said—which is all that faith is about.

“In the face of every adversity and every reason not to believe, they just trusted God’s Word,” explains Jordan. “And because of that ‘great cloud of witnesses,’ Hebrews 12 says, ‘Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.’

“The message is, ‘Hey, if it worked for them it’ll work for us, so why don’t we just believe God and quit being diverted by all the other things that cause us to think about what we think about—just get some divine viewpoint and go on that.’

“That’s why we study the Bible. We’re not here trying to study the Bible to make God happy with us. If you’re in Christ, God’s already happy with you, and if you’re not, there’s nothing you can do to make Him happy with you. The issue’s you’re either in Christ or you’re not.

“God looks down here today at the world and He doesn’t see Baptists and Methodists and Catholics and Episcopalians and Lutherans and Buddhists and Muslims and Taoists. He sees sinners, and they’re either in Christ or in Adam. They’re either saints or sinners in God’s idea.

“Now, when you say it that way, you immediately think you’ve got to live like a saint and act like a saint; have a couple of miracles associated with your name and a church pronounce you. That’s not what a saint is in the Bible.

“A saint’s an old rag-tail ragamuffin like you who God took and put in His Son. The word ‘saint’ means to be set apart for the purpose with which you were created. That’s why you can’t save yourself.

“That’s why Christianity is not a self-help program. That’s religion, but it’s not Christianity—life in Christ. This is not a self-help program; this is a God-does-it-for you program. And if God doesn’t do it for you, it won’t get done.”

*****

There’s nothing more plaguing or perplexing for people as the question of suffering and that’s why Scripture so often deals with the issue and gives the answers to it.

Jordan reasons, “Paul talks about this great victory program God has in His Son and yet where’s he at? He’s in jail. He’s suffering. So he tells the Romans, ‘For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.’ He says to the Colossians that he ‘rejoices in his sufferings.’ There’s not a single word of complaint. There’s not one hint of grumbling.

“You know when you get in the throes…you think you’re doing good . . . little problems come along and you handle them but then a real whammy hits and you look up and say, ‘Why Lord? I was living for you. I was meaning to do right and then this just came out of left field.’

“There’s no ‘Why?’ in Paul’s attitude. And that’s not simply him resigning himself to the problems with some stoic fortitude. It’s not, ‘Well, grow up and be a man; life happens.’ It wasn’t that he had this placid temperament either that could take it.

“If you study Paul’s epistles you notice quickly that Paul was easily depressed. This guy could become an emotional basket case filled with depression, gloominess and despair—like the Hee Haw song. That could be Paul at the drop of a hat.

“Clearly, Paul had learned how to rejoice in the midst of sufferings and in the midst of his trials. Notice he’s not saying, ‘I’m rejoicing FOR my sufferings.’ He’s not saying, ‘Yeah, just pour it on me; I’m like a masochist.’ This is not sado-masochism. This is not, ‘I just love to hurt.’ This isn’t the self-flagellation of religion; beating one another, trying to hurt enough.

“There’s the testimony of a saint back in the 1200s talking about how in his religious order they wore under their monk robes these belts around their legs that had spikes in them, and those spikes would dig into their flesh. And that when they were really spiritual, they’d cinch that thing up real tight and every time they’d walk, it would dig into their flesh.

“For two hours a day they’d wear that to remind them of the suffering and so they could suffer with Him. You know what that is? That’s religion. Every religionized religion in the world has some of that. That’s not what Paul’s talking about.

“You don’t have to wear ‘holy underwear.’ Don’t laugh, there’s people who do that too! In fact, not too very far from us right now there’s people doing that, thinking they can make themselves suffer; that it will purge (sin) from them. That’s not what he’s talking about.

“Paul’s talking about, ‘In the midst of all my difficulties, I find something that causes my heart to rejoice in spite of being in jail.’ He’s not rejoicing, ‘Whoopee, I’m in jail again!’ He’s not saying, ‘Whoopee, I’m on a sick bed again!’ He’s saying, ‘In spite of the circumstances I’ve got something inside that causes me to rejoice and fill up that which is behind in the afflictions of Christ in my body.’

“Paul’s explaining how he arrived at the position he had. He’s saying, ‘I think like Jesus Christ thought when He was on the Cross, and when He hung on that Cross and endured that stuff, He knew Sunday morning was coming.’

“Christ knew resurrection was coming and He knew He wasn’t just going to be raised from the dead but that God the Father had a plan that would be accomplished in Him to demonstrate His glory before the whole universe. Because of those events, they transformed the sufferings into something quite different in His thinking.

“Well, Paul was following that kind of example when it came to his thinking about rejoicing in his sufferings. It came as the end product of a method of thinking through the issue. He asked a question, came up with God’s answer, and made a decision to believe God’s answer, apply God’s answer and stand in God’s answer. So that’s the process.”