As Children of God, we are recipients of God’s grace. 1 John 3:1 tells us that we are God’s children because of his great love for us: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him” (NIV). But just because we are children of God, we are not guaranteed life on earth without suffering. In fact when we become heirs of God’s glory, we also inherit his sufferings. Not that we will die on a cross like Jesus did, but that we will “carry our crosses.” The image that comes to my mind is the “cup of suffering” that Jesus expressed to God in Luke’s Gospel: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42, NIV). Jesus willingly accepted his cup of suffering. It is this image which lingers in my mind as I receive the cup at the Lord’s Table. While we children of God will inherit all his glory, we also inherit his suffering. Grace and peace, Pastor Bob