“I’m so excited that I get to suffer!”
Said no one ever.
Unless, there’s purpose in you’re suffering, right?
In child birth, traditionally (prior to modern medicine) there was suffering & unimaginable agonizing pain that women had to go through in order to have their sweet baby in their arms for the first time. And then all the feelings of suffering are replaced by moments of bliss.
It doesn’t mean that they didn’t suffer, it meant that there was purpose to their suffering that outweighed the experience of suffering.
In Philippians 1 Paul writes to the people of Philippi from prison to encourage them to spread the Good News of Christ.
Paul writes in verse 12:
“And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message without fear.”
Philippians 1:12-14 NLT
Even in the midst of Paul’s suffering his attitude about his suffering is joy. He sees the purpose in it and sees the courage it is producing in other believers to be bold and courageous in speaking the Truth of the Gospel.
And Paul continues to write:
“Don’t be intimidated in any way by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved, even by God himself. For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. We are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of it.”
Philippians 1:28-30 NLT
Paul talks about not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him.
Unfortunately the modern church has emphasized simply making a decision to follow Jesus one time, and boasting about how many have been saved during a revival or service. While that first decision is an important one, it’s an ongoing decision you make daily, it’s your cross you take up daily, it’s suffering you take on daily, knowing that through it God would be glorified.
Everyday is a new decision. And everyday that we suffer on behalf of Christ is proof of His love for us to enable us to be supernaturally bold and courageous to endure whatever suffering comes our way by the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.
Not all of us are called to be martyrs of the faith like Paul, but there is a lot of wisdom we can learn by reading about their lives and the hundreds of people who came to know Christ as a result of their faith.
One of my favorite martyrs of the faith is known as Catherine of Alexandria.
The reason why her journey to martyrdom is so powerful to me is because of how many ways she was sentenced to death and so many of the plans of her adversaries failed.
They tried to starve her in a prison cell. While she was there she spoke of the Good News to her nearby cell mates and they came to know Christ.
They attempted to embarrass and discredit her in front of the whole city by having her speak the Truth in comparison to the 150 of the best thinkers and philosophers in the area to try to discredit her with their logic and faith in the pagan gods.
As a result, she converted all 150 of those philosophers to Christianity and all of those thinkers were then beheaded out of anger of the Emperor.
The Emperor was relentless. He had the carpenters create a wheel made of knives for her to be wrapped in to cause her to die a most gruesome and tortuous death.
As she was bound to the wheel and it began to turn, everybody in the city watched to see her die. But instead an angel of the Lord released her from the wheel, and it spun out of control killing some of the nearby unbelievers instead of Catherine. And many came to Christ at the sight of this miracle.
Catherine was ultimately beheaded in 305 AD.
(If you’d like to hear her full story and other stories of martyrs of the Christian faith you can find them here: https://youtu.be/vkYBFoX2Wc4 )
In the midst of her suffering many came to know the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ because of her willingness to suffer for it.
As we live our life— let’s be so intentional in our commitment to grow that we are willing to find joy in our suffering so we can be refined into the type of person that God needs to fulfill the role He called us to.
And if we don’t delight in our opportunity to suffer, and leverage it for our growth— what happens?
You’ll still suffer.
And the pain of your suffering can lead to you digging your own grave— rather than planting a garden there.
It starts with your perception. Your attitude.
If your goal is to have an apathetic life, absorbed in the idea of what you can take from the world rather than how you can serve in it— be my guest. But you might find that way of living to leave you with an emptiness you can’t fill.
God doesn’t call the ones who are “qualified” for the job like a manager in an interview. No, he qualifies who He has called for His purpose so we can rely on Him in the areas where our humanness ends and the His supernatural power begins.
andrea statler 