Who among us would enjoy pain and sufferings?

Not I! I mean, if I am not exaggerating, we all want to avoid pain and sufferings, right?

We go to school and try to find a good paying job for what? To avoid “any lack” in our lives. In a way, we look for a “suffering-free” or comfortable life, whatever that means for each one of us. And this is true for all of us whether we follow Christ or not.

Some Christians genuinely believe that sufferings are reserved for those who reject Christ but is that so scripturally?

Not even close!

Paul writes to the Philippians like this:

“For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him” Philippians 1:29 NIV

Very clear, isn’t it?

“But” one preacher the other day said, “but we do not look for sufferings.”

As Christians, I believe, perhaps the most important truth we need to know in the topic of suffering is this: Every pain and suffering that comes into our lives has a purpose and a goal; and that purpose/goal is ALWAYS good for us!

Paul puts it this way:

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 NASB

Which things? “All things!” Sufferings and pain too? Yes!

But what is “the good” all those things “work together” for us? What is that “good” for us?

Read the following verse:

“For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.” Romans 8:29-30 NASB

Do you see the ultimate good for us?

The ultimate good for us who follow Christ Jesus is to be “conformed to the image of” Jesus Christ! Is there any “better or gooder” thing than that for us? No, nothing!

The Holy Spirit who lives in us doesn’t just sit there and do nothing. The grace of God we received through Jesus Christ does not only empowers us to believe in Jesus Christ but it also empowers us to slowly but surely take the image of Christ.

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” Titus 2:11-13 ESV

The grace of God that saves us also changes us so that we will be conformed to the image of the Son of God. If not, we have no grace of God!

However, not all sufferings are the same.

Listen:

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.” 1 Peter 12-16 NASB

Do you see it?

There is what is called “a Christian suffering,” and this is the kind of suffering which fashions us to the image of Christ.

Trusting the word of God through the devil’s assaults, fixing our eyes on Christ the author and finisher of our faith, is, for example, a Christian kind of suffering.

So, when we suffer, the first thing we should ask is this: Am I suffering as a Christian or not?

If not, it means, we have a sin we need to confess, renounce and repent of. If we are suffering as a Christian, like Job, the word of God tells us, “to rejoice:”

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-3 NASB

If we have no major and known sin to confess and repent of, while we pray for God to give us His grace and mercy through our sufferings, we rejoice knowing that through our sufferings the invisible hand of God is doing a marvelous job of shaping and molding us so we look like Christ Jesus. So, in a way, we are in “God’s beauty shop” or as C. S. Lewis calls it, we are in “God’s gymnasium.”

If you go to gym and don’t feel any pain, forget it! Simply put, you are wasting your time.

Paul says this as to the outcomes of “God’s gymnasium:”

“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:3-5 ESV

Amen!

Then, only then will we find out at the end that we actually look like our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2 ESV

So, my friend, if you are suffering now as a Christian, rejoice! You are in God’s beauty shop! Just trust the “Beautician.” He will perfectly make you to look like Jesus Christ. Don’t focus on the now but in the then. Think like this: When I walk out of this beauty shop, I will receive all “whoas” from all creations!

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 ESV ///