Suffering

We are anxious when someone we love is sick or dying.  Suffering isn’t pleasant, so why would God allow it in the life of the Christian?  I looked into it this week, and here’s what I found.

Sometimes suffering is meant to show God’s power:

Matthew 8:6-7 (ESV)  “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.”
⁷  And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

Jesus’ miracles were performed to validate the Gospel message.   He wasn’t sharing just words.  His words were and are Truth greater than the reality of our universe.  To demonstrate this, He altered natural events.  He ended suffering in some to show His power, to validate His message.

Suffering helps us grow:

Romans 5:3 (ESV) ³  Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,

If our lives were perfect, if every day was sunshine and lollipops, we would be superficial human beings.  Worse than that, we would be superficial Christians.  Our faith would have no depth.  It is the sufferings in our lives that most powerfully direct us to rely upon God to do what is right.

Suffering draws us closer to one another

I once asked a veteran pastor what he said to people who had lost someone or were about to.  How did he handle the hopeless hospital visits or devastating funerals?  He told me he says very little.  Mostly the family is comforted when he cries with them sharing in their grief. 

Suffering alongside of and with those who are suffering loss creates and expresses fellowship with them.  It brings us closer together.  Suffering as a Christian brings us closer to the brethren around the world who are suffering as well.

1 Peter 5:9 (ESV) ⁹  Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

Above all, through suffering, we experience a closer fellowship with Christ Himself:

Philippians 3:8-10 (NKJV) ⁸  Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ  ⁹  and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; ¹⁰  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,

Why is this Important?

Understanding suffering is important to the Christian because we often believe we are suffering do to our own actions, that we’re being disciplined by the Lord.  That happens, but I don’t believe it happens as often as we might think.  Not all suffering is our fault:

John 9:1-3 (ESV)
¹  As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. ²  And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” ³  Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

We should understand as Christians that suffering is an expected part of the Christian’s life.  We are not exempt from suffering because we know Christ.

Romans 8:17 (ESV)   ¹⁷  and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

In fact, I have often wondered why God allows non-believers to suffer.  They have it a terrifying end ahead of them.  Why suffer here on earth, too.  But, God’s Word says He treats us all the same:

Matthew 5:44-45 (ESV)
⁴⁴  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵  so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Besides, who would come to Christ if only the Christians suffered.

When suffering enters our lives either through our own suffering or that of loved ones, remember it is a benefit to the Christian.  All things which enter our lives are loving acts of our Father in heaven.  Sometimes, it hurts.