The Rejecting Suffering Error

Should we really reject suffering? Certainly it makes sense to deal with physical pain since it's a warning that something's wrong. And though we suffer emotionally, we should deal with that too.

The suffering I'm writing about is persecution for having faith in Christ. It can be as mild as somebody mocking our faith to having our lives violently ended. We plainly read in 1 Peter 4:12 (KJV) that, "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:"

I certainly experienced this in school when I witnessed to my fellow students about the great gift Christ offers humanity. It was difficult to take the mocking of my friends but I persisted for a while. I didn't know back then about the verse in James 1:2 (KJV) which says,"My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;" I certainly felt like quitting but I clung tightly to my faith.

Fortunately, I knew about what Christ said in Matthew 5:11 (KJV). "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake."

I also did my best to practice Matthew 5:44 (KJV) which says, "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;"

Luke 9:26 (KJV) continually reminded me that, "For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels."

It's counterintuitive to rejoice in suffering. Even so, we have good reason to do so. Paul, who suffered extreme persecution, wrote what God told him regarding weakness and suffering in 2 Corinthians 12:9 (KJV). "And he (God) said unto me, 'My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.' Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

The Lord's ways are contrary to ours. That's why I'm writing a book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? The human way is to do works in order to please the Lord. God's way is for us to surrender our lives to the authority of Christ and to receive forgiveness. The Lord's way is the only acceptable way and we must obey it in order to be in heaven.

I'll be posting on Thursday about how people want to use a god of power when the real God wants yielded people.