Joyful Suffering

From my new book Pursuing Peace - Finding God's Peace in a Stressful Life

“In His kindness God called you to share in His eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, He will restore, support, and strengthen you, and He will place you on a firm foundation.” - 1 Peter 5:10 (NLT)

Let’s concentrate on the word, “suffered,” in this passage. The word used here in the Greek is, “paschō,” which means, “to be affected, to feel, to suffer sadly, be in a bad plight.” This doesn’t sound like a pleasant experience does it? This is the same word that Jesus uses in Matthew 16:21 when He describes to His disciples how He will go to Jerusalem and suffer at the hands of men - and be killed. Sounds like battle to me. People suffer in battle.

Do you ever feel like you are suffering in your daily journey? Do you ever get to that point in your day where your chest is heavy and you feel like you just can’t get enough breath in your lungs – like the pressures of the day are weighing on you? This process is designed by God to try us. It is meant to strengthen our faith in Him. It brings us to a position where we cannot count on ourselves and must then submit to the Father’s strength.  CH4 - Decision Making

There is nothing peaceful about suffering. Pursuing God’s peace comes with challenges. I have learned that when you begin to get close to God, He starts this process of faith building. The account of Abraham and Isaac in the Old Testament is no exception. Abraham would get close and God would test him. He would get closer and God would test him even more. We have to ask ourselves the question, “Are my hardships simply faith-building because I am close to God or are they the results of me being far away from God.”

I can recall many times in my life where I was off the beaten, spiritual path and things were falling apart around me. I have watched similar things play out in the lives of others. This suffering is often the result of our bad choices. I have also been in dire straits at points in my life where I was as close to God as I have ever been. When I was a pre-teen I was quite close to God. I can recall praying for hours at night till I would fall asleep. Years would go by without me missing a day of lengthy prayer. I can remember God’s still, small voice speaking to me so clearly throughout the day, and yet, there was plenty of difficulty all around me in my life and in our family. These were testing times for me. God was testing my faith in Him.

We also need to ask the question, “Do we really think the sacrifice of God’s own Son should come with a 100% painless Christian life?” The way I see it, Christians should be more like the apostle Paul and glory in the pains of this life. They are allowed by God the Father for us to experience a small portion of what Christ did for us. If we could get our minds around that thought then our attitudes would change. We would harness the power of heaven as we’re allowed opportunity to suffer at His approval. Pain would simply be a reminder of the cross of Christ and joy would come from mourning.

A Christian is a follower of Christ. So it makes perfect sense that we will also follow Him in suffering of some kind. The good news is that God promises to strengthen us by the Holy Spirit as we “take up our cross.” This suffering is part of what it means to be a Christian.

“Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily (emphasis mine), and follow me.”  Luke 9:23 NLT

Let’s not water down the blessing with our poor attitude. Had you been there that day, would you have reached out and carried His cross? When the opportunity for faith building comes, be strengthened in your faith in God. Learn the positive habit of seeing the joy in suffering for Christ. When you do, you will be amazed at the power of Christ working within you. And you will see the Holy Spirit work miracles in your life.