Here as of late the podcasts of preachers I listen to, the blogs I read, as well as the articles I have been reading all seem to revolve around one subject, suffering. As I have gone back and looked and listened to several recent sermons I have preached, suffering has come up in the vast majority of them. Could it be God trying to tell me something? Could it be God telling our church something? I am not sure on a definitive answer, but the answer to both of those questions very well could be yes. I will be one of the first ones to tell you that suffering is a part of the Christian life. In the past on this blog and in other avenues I am blessed to preach or teach I have talked about finishing well in our life. Remembering the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 10 that say, “whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.” That phrase “whatever you do” stands out to me. Using a little sarcasm here, in the Greek the word “whatever” means “whatever.” And so dealing with the recurring theme, God wants us to suffer for the glory of God. In order for God to receive the glory through our suffering, we must learn to suffer well. How can we suffer well? What does that exactly mean? I am not sure how to define it myself, but I do believe we need to have a particular mindset when we are suffering if we want to bring glory to God. With that in mind, what do we need to remember or remind ourselves of in the middle of our suffering that will help us do it well?
Remember Jesus suffered during His earthly life. In one of the greatest chapters concerning the ministry and crucifixion of Jesus, Isaiah says, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3). Sometimes it is easy to remember that Jesus is God, but forget His humanity. While we may not be able to fully explain it, the Bible teaches that Jesus was 100% God and 100% man at the same time during His earthly ministry. So yes, He is God and He is in control of all things and knows all things, but He also understands sorrow and grief. Hebrews 4:15 reminds us, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus experienced pain, hunger, sorrow, sleeplessness, stress, and the many other things that we experience. Therefore, when you are going through things and you are suffering, remember, even if no one else on earth can understand what you are going through, God can. You are never alone in your pain and suffering.
Remember suffering doesn’t last forever. I know when things are going wrong and you are in the middle of suffering it seems like it lasts forever, but it really hasn’t and doesn’t. The first part of 2 Corinthians 4:17 says, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment.” Psalm 30:5 says, “For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Even Job, who suffered as much as anyone other than Christ in the Bible, didn’t suffer forever.
Remember suffering is preparing us for something greater in the future. I am not and will not teach that life on this earth is easy or will be easy. Some people will suffer their entire lifetime or a large portion of their life. But if our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ, there is something greater awaiting us when our suffering is over. The rest of 2 Corinthians 4:17 says, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” Then verse 18 says, “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” I put it this way sometimes, we have to go through Monday so we can appreciate Friday. Our hope is not in this life or in this world. If we are living our best life now we are headed for hell. As the apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (bold is mine). All things are not good, but God can work them for our good. As a child of God, God is not just working in our life here and not, but He is also preparing us for eternity with Him. Which leads to the last point to remember.
Remember suffering here is purifying us for heaven. Everyone of us is a sinner (Rom. 3:23). That means we are impure. God will not and cannot allow any impure thing into heaven. Therefore, we must go through a purifying process. That process begins when we surrender our heart and life over to the Lord Jesus Christ, acknowledging that He is the only way to heaven (John 3:16, 14:6; Acts 4:12; Rom. 10:9-10). But that process continues the rest of our life. Too many preachers and churches teach that salvation is the end of the process. They teach from the perspective of as long as you have your “get out of hell free” card then everything is good. And while you must have salvation, God desires to do something more and far greater in your life than to simply save you. He desires to transform you into the image of His Son. Romans 8:29 says, “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” There must be a refining process that takes place in our life. Think about the two most precious commodities in the world, gold and diamonds. Both in their finished state are incredibly valuable. But unrefined they aren’t worth much. Both diamonds and gold go through a high temperature refining process. There is heat and pressure applied to them to mold them and shape them into what they should be. Suffering does this for a Christian. 2 Corinthians 4:8 says, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.” Yes God allows us to go through difficult times, but it is always for our good to make us more like Christ.
Suffering is never fun nor easy, but it is necessary. After all, how could we say we have a strong faith if it is never put to the test? In Ephesians 5 it says that the church will be “a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle.” Anyone who has ever left a shirt or pair of pants in the dryer for a time after the dryer stops knows two things. First, there will be wrinkles. Secondly, the only way to get the wrinkles out is to apply heat and pressure. So if we are going to be wrinkle-free children of God, there will be heat and pressure applied to us. And though it may hurt, it won’t last forever, and it is working something out far greater than we can ever imagine. Remind yourself, if Jesus suffered, I will suffer. But I’m not alone, He is with me, and because He overcame the world, I will overcome it as well.
By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him