SUFFERING is....

SUFFERING IS: Suffering is often misunderstood, but that’s because we fail to see how God uses it for our good.  Jesus learned obedience through suffering (Hebrews 5:8), so how much more must we heed to suffering in order to simply learn.  Think about it.  We suffer little by little each day, as aging brings us closer to death.  So if I already know I’m going to die, shouldn’t I be learning obedience with each breath?  The problem is not death however, because in Christ you shall never die; but the problem is how we miss the opportunity to have life abundant before “death” by complaining our way to death.  Man essentially grumbles his way through his sufferings, missing the character development in the temporal that will be with us in eternal.  God’s genius was allowing short-term struggles to grant us forever-term rewards.  His lens sees suffering as good, so how come it’s still so misunderstood?

The TOPIC BUSTER:  Suffering is the “necessary” agitation that dislodges the soul (emotions, will, and intellect) from its attachment to the world.  God’s genius is allowing worldly discomfort to find heavenly comfort; giving suffering to grant glory—“Beloved do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” (I Peter 4: 12-13). Suffering is not strange than, when in relation to Christ, but factually necessary.  So if we ever find the “necessary” strange, than it is indicative of relations estranged.  Thus, expecting the necessary and preparing for the necessary is quite necessary.  Suffering therefore for me is my safety in Christ.