Must Christians Suffer?

Must Christians Suffer?
By Rev Hong Hee
http://www.konghee.com/www/?p=229622 Feb 2009

Then He answered and told them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and restores all things. And how is itwritten concerning the Son of Man, that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?”Mark 9:12

It was very difficult for the disciples to grasp the idea that their Savior would have to suffer. The Jews who studied the Old Testament prophecies expected the Messiah to be a great king like David, who would overthrow the enemy, Rome. But their vision was limited to their own time and experience.

If Jesus hadn’t suffered and died, we would have died in our sins. Through His suffering, Jesus completed the work necessary for our salvation. Through His suffering, Jesus fully identified with us. We know that Jesus understands our struggles because He faced them as a human being. We can now trust Him to help us survive our trials and overcome life’s temptations.

Suffering is one of the unavoidable passages of life. Some people think that troubles are always caused by sin or a lack of faith. But trials are often a part of God’s plan for believers. Jesus never promised that His followers would not suffer (Luke 21:17-19).
Suffering brings a number of benefits:
(1) It may be an opportunity for you to practice submission before God.
(2) It can build in you character (James 1:2-4) and patience (Rom. 5:3-5). You can’t really know the depth of your character until you see how you react under pressure.
(3) You start to become sensitive toward others who may also be facing troubles (2 Cor. 1:3-7). It is easy to be kind to others when everything is going well, but can you still be kind when others treat you unfairly?

God’s will is to make you mature and complete, not to keep you free from pain. Instead of complaining about your struggles, you should see them as opportunities for growth. Often, your troubles may be a sign of effective Christian living on your part.

Finally, God does not expect us to enjoy suffering. Only days after telling the disciples to pray that they might escape persecution, Jesus Himself asked God to spare Him the agonies of the cross, if that was God’s will (Luke 22:41-42). It is abnormal to want to suffer, but as Jesus’ followers, we should be willing to suffer if by doing so, we can help build God’s kingdom.

We have two wonderful promises to help us persevere when we suffer:
God will always be with us (Matt. 28:20), and
He will one day rescue us and give us eternal life (Rev. 21:1-4).