“If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:” (2nd Tim. 2:12)
“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2nd Tim. 3:12)
I cannot recall ever meeting anyone who has suffered for the Lord Jesus Christ in the manner that most Christians envision that word “suffering.” Beaten and cast into prison, having all their possessions taken from them, watching as friends and family members are tortured and killed before their eyes.
I have met many who believe an unkind word from one whom they have witnessed to is suffering, who have been ridiculed for faith in the Word of God, who believe not being invited to certain functions or not being sought out for companionship or conversations is suffering for His name, who believe when they catch a bad cold are suffering.
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2nd Cor. 13:5)
In nearly every nation my friends, except for a very few, many who profess to serve the Lord Jesus Christ think that bad feelings about themselves is suffering for Him, fighting against thoughts of the mind, adhering occasionally to the desires of the flesh, recognizing the growing evil spreading across the planet and then feeling bad because they fear it might approach their doorstep.
Which is true suffering for His name, physical pain imposed upon us by wicked and vile men, imaginations of the constant barrage of the flesh that never are enacted upon, or doubting the truth of Deuteronomy 31:8 and hating ourselves for it?
“And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.”
Out of all the events of Abraham’s life, was the most terrible suffering he ever experienced that three day walk to sacrifice the son he loved? The most horrible suffering our Savior ever experienced was not the incredible physical pain of the cross, but the moment He said, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46)
All those who will die in their sins, no matter how horrific and unthinkable the suffering they experienced in this life, do not know the first thing about true suffering, about real pain of the flesh and mind. Everyone in hell understands those words perfectly. And the pain, the hopelessness those in hell are experiencing today cannot be compared in the magnitude of suffering that awaits them in the Lake of Fire.
If the Almighty has chosen you for suffering at this moment, I offer this, and I pray you do not see these words as hollow. How can we count a few decades of life, no matter the amount of suffering, with an eternity of joy, of pleasures forevermore, of being in the presence of the One who in all truth knows the fulfillment of that word “suffer.”
“Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin” (Isaiah 53:10a)
“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” (Heb. 12:11)
Chastisement, punishment, suffering, anything that adversely affects our expected status quo of life must be accepted by us as the will of God in our lives, sometimes it takes many times in the fire to refine the gold, all the dross must be removed.
Suffering for His name, whether in the mind or the flesh, or both, reveals to us something that not all seem to realize, a love for us that will never end, and my friends, in all honesty, if you desire to be made into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, then suffering is what you should expect.
And you must submit yourself to this truth, it must be the Almighty’s decision on how you need to suffer.
I know it’s difficult, but rejoice in those times.
