Suffering.

Suffering is a gift.

I have been given the gift of suffering, that I might dine with Christ. And while John laid on His chest, I have shared His cup.

Why are we so afraid of suffering?

What allows us to find such strength, such hope when we look at the Cross of this Nazarene, but we shudder in such fear, such anguish, when it is time to pick up ours?

I am convinced that much of our lives have been pursued and forged in the worship of comfort, which seems to be the opposite of suffering. It looks like the best path, comfort does. But I have found that building for comfort, out of a fear of suffering, will lead you to it anyways.

Comfort is a shifting shadow. But suffering is a certainty.

So if we know that, why do we spend so much of our lives avoiding it? What are we so afraid of? If Christ endured, and we are in Him, born again to that same resurrection power, should we not find hope that suffering produces a glorification in us that pushes us deeper into the image of Jesus Christ our Lord?

For to even utter the words, “He must become greater and I must become less” with any amount of purity, is to stare suffering and death in the face and laugh.

Is it possible to have joy, while the cross tears through the flesh of your back? To count it all as gain when this world spits you out, speaks to the divine revelation that you were not created for this world; but for a God Man. And if that does not bring you joy…then maybe it is time to retreat back to the Garden once more.

Maybe we have lost the pearl in the field and the Truth that it holds. That to give it all, to lay your life down, to suffer, it puts you in direct intimacy with this King.

Suffering teaches you the steps of the most beautiful Galilean waltz. And lest we be called into the grand ballroom and be ashamed when we are asked to dance, fearing our exposure that we do not know the steps; better surrender to it now, so on that glorious day you will be found in perfect cadence with Christ and His angels.

Because the simple truth is, to fear suffering is to innately believe that the Cross at Golgotha finished nothing.

But there is hope still. Paul wrote about such a phenomenon. He said to the church in Rome, “We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

So you see, comfort is not an alternate route around suffering; but a detour that will cause you to collide headfirst into it. The only way to get to hope is through suffering. A reward that Christ Himself demonstrated for us, so we could walk into it filled with courage, love, boldness and dare I say, joy?

So brothers and sisters, if suffering is promised, let us together suffer well. For there is no greater worship among angels or men, then to carry our cross as we dance into glory!