“And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
Romans 5:2b-4
Christians have a unique relationship with suffering. The faithful in the Bible are often the ones we find suffering, yet our God is love and gives good gifts. On the one hand, children in churches are taught songs of love from a young age like, “Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so, and Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.” On the other hand Jesus tells us to rejoice when we suffer.
God doesn’t keep His children in some protective bubble; in the world, but walled off from the pain or the suffering in it. Suffering is part of being in a broken world full of broken people. It is how we suffer that demonstrates our faith as Christians, and how we handle suffering is one of the gifts we have from having our eyes opened and the perspective of God’s eternal kingdom.
As a young man, I had chosen to serve my country and volunteered to join the Army as an Infantryman. What I didn’t know then, was that during Army Basic Training and the Advanced Individual Infantry Training the focus was on getting recruits to give up or wash out. It was months of grueling non-stop training designed to make soldiers, and weed out those whose bodies or minds were not able to complete the tasks and persist in the face of increasingly difficult or even impossible tasks.
The question for the young recruit wanting to serve this country as an Infantry Soldier and wear that blue cord, was simple: How much are you willing to suffer?
The culmination of the advanced infantry training as a 4-day field-training exercise that included precious few hours of sleep through the whole ordeal, and concluded with a 12-mile road march while carrying 70-pounds of gear. To top it all off, the drill sergeants were happy to encourage me and all the other soldiers, loudly and with much fervor, to drop out. “You can’t make it!” “Just quit!” “You’re not even close!” “You’re not good enough!” “This can all be over now!”
The only encouragement I got was from those other young men trudging along in front and behind me. All of us were feeling the pain. We were all suffering, yet we were filled with stark determination not to quit and not to let any of our brothers fall out. While we weren’t allowed to carry one another’s gear, we shouted encouragement to each other. It didn’t matter how much we were suffering, we would ignore our drill sergeants and raise our voices over theirs. “You’ve got this!” “One more step!” “Don’t slow down!” “This is nothing!” “You can’t smoke a rock!” “You can do this all day!”
My suffering on that day had a purpose, a reason, and a goal. Also, my suffering was not done alone. While my sergeants were trying to weed out the weak, by brothers were there to dig deep and suffer well.
To be clear, this was one point in time for me, a point where my body could endure more than it could today, but the amount of punishment my 20-year-old body could handle has nothing to do with the purpose of the anecdote. Mentally, emotionally, and spiritually I am a much stronger person today than I was when I was 20. How we handle stress, pain, or suffering has little to do with our physical limitations, and much to do with our mental, emotional, and spiritual state.
One of the most foundational spiritual truths that even the young Christian knows is that while we exist here and now we will live on into eternity. However, this world and the suffering we experience in it will not continue on into eternity. This is the first blessing most Christians come to understand when they accept that gift of grace given on the Cross of Christ. We are forgiven and free. The weight of the punishment for our sins is lifted off our shoulders, and we have this blessed assurance that our eternal destination will be with God in the kingdom. This will be a place where every tear is dried and there will be no more suffering.
This blessing provides the Christian with a heavenly perspective that makes the suffering of this world seem small in comparison to the joy that is to come. When we suffer physical losses, emotional losses, financial losses, occupational losses, or even the loss of a life of a loved one, we mourn. Scripture tells us that there is a time and a season for everything. Even a time for suffering and loss. But our perspective of eternity makes those times of suffering easier to bear. When you know deep in your soul that we have an eternity to look forward to that is a paradise with our God and our brothers and sisters in Christ, we can come out of any time of suffering looking to the future with our eyes on that bright hope.
In addition to the blessing of a home with God to come, we also have the blessing of a life here filled with the Holy Spirit. When Jesus ascended, he told the Apostles to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit. The very same Holy Spirit that descended upon them on that day of Pentecost is also with Christians today. The very presence of the everlasting God lives inside us. This awesome gift gives Christians a way to handle the suffering of this world that is confounding to those who don’t yet know Christ. They simply don’t understand how Christians can say things like, “I lost my job. Praise be to God,” “I’ve prayed and prayed, but my wife is still sick. God is good,” or “My world is falling apart, but my God is still with me.” Some may focus on the Holy Spirit as a source of gifts or fruit, but the Holy Spirit is so much more than a source of power. In the Old Testament God is often named by His attributes. God is the Lord our Healer, the Lord our Provider, and the Lord our Comforter. When Christians experience suffering, it is the Holy Spirit that is living in them that provides for them healing, and comfort.
Another grace given to Christians is the family that we have around us. The blood of Christ binds together all Christians into the family of faith, or the children of God. Through the act of Baptism, a Christian dies to themselves and is raised up as a new creation in Christ. What comes up from the water of Baptism is a new brother or sister, who has come to be part of our eternal family. The benefits of this family don’t start in Heaven. Instead, the blessings received from this family help lift up the whole body of Christ here and now. When one Christian suffers, we all join together in that suffering, and take on a piece of that heaviness for one another. We give in whatever way we can to our brothers and sisters as they have need. I have seen land gifted to a group of believers who had no place to worship. I’ve seen new homes given to families who had none. I’ve seen cars given to bless a family in need. I’ve seen medical bills completely paid, and funeral service costs completely covered. I’ve seen food and clothing given with no questions asked. It doesn’t remove the suffering, but when Christians share in one another’s suffering, it covers that suffering with love.
I’ve known two Christian families who have lost absolutely everything they own in the world except the clothes on their backs, and while they mourned the loss of the items that held emotional ties to them, the loss didn’t devastate these families.
One family was saved by the grace of God, as He used the youngest child in their family to wake his parents, who were able to get everyone out in time, all of them in their pajamas. Later, when they were sifting through the ruins of their home, they reported with joy that while the house and everything in it burned to the ground, one Bible survived charred only on the outside.
The other family almost lost their mother as she stayed home while the others went to a special event at church. She woke from a nap and barely got out of the front door as smoke and fire filled the rooms behind her. They had only purchased and moved into their new home less than six months earlier. Both families experienced immense suffering due to incidents that were, in both cases, beyond their control. Both families gave thanks to God and were filled with joy that they were all together and all ok.
When it comes to handling suffering in this life, sometimes we need to be reminded of these very important points:
- We have a goal – and that goal is nothing less than Heaven
- We have a God – and His Spirit is with us every step of the way
- We have a family – and they count it as a blessing to share in our suffering
Faith Of The Centurion 