Suffering is a part of life.

For the Christian, suffering can become the path of knowing Christ better. It is not necessarily evidence of lack of faith or manifestation of sin.

There is a vast difference in the passive acceptance of the devil’s destructive activities in the affairs of men and the suffering that is promised in the life of the believer. Too many people have failed to trust God’s willingness to intervene in their behalf and then have suffered unnecessarily. Yet many misunderstood God’s promise of victory to every Christian as being a promise of no pain, no need, no conflict and no problem.

Suffering is inevitable because we, as Christians, are living in an unchristian world. Our values and purposes are unique and lead us into conflict with our environment. We are always "swimming cross-current." Suffering is inconvenient. There is never a good time to suffer. It is uncomfortable (Hebrews 12:11), not only to our physical bodies but to our minds, for it often contradicts our concept of justice.

But suffering is invaluable to us, as it weans us from depending on the world’s offerings. In our inner man we want to know all of Jesus, and suffering is a path God uses to bring into focus His value system and open our eyes to the glory of His Son. Since Jesus learned suffering, we can expect the same.

God’s issue in using suffering is not sin but maturity. Obviously we suffer when we sin, but to always ascribe suffering to sin would be to adopt the philosophy of Job’s three friends and receive the same rebuke from God.

God uses suffering to move us from being children who primarily get commands from their father to bring sons who share His thoughts. Remember the end of Job. "I used to hear you with my ears, but now I see you with my eyes." A new revelation of Jesus is God’s intended purpose in suffering.

John 15:18-21                                Hebrews 1:32 - 12:11

Romans 5:1-5                                I Peter 2:18-25

II Corinthians 1:1-10                      I Peter 5:8-10