1 Peter 2:20 (AMP)
“After all, what kind of credit is there if, when you do wrong and are punished for it, you endure it patiently? But if when you do what is right and patiently bear [undeserved] suffering, this finds favor with God.”
What did Jesus die for if Christians still suffer? It simply doesn’t add up. “Jesus overcame sickness and poverty and all suffering at the cross”; these are often the comments I encounter on social media posts concerning the sufferings Christians face. This understanding is directly linked to bad and inaccurate biblical teachings.
Mark 2:17 (NIV)
On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
– Jesus was making reference to the sinful as the sick. He was not speaking about physical sickness and diseases. When the bible speaks concerning ‘healing’, often times it refers to healing of the soul and not the physical body.
II Corinthians 4:16-17 (NKJV)
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory”.
Our physical bodies are perishing, prone and subject to sickness and disease, and even death. If our argument is that Jesus’ death on the cross freed us from sickness and diseases, then why is it that Believers still die from cancers, viruses, infections etc. How do we justify Believers living in poverty-stricken nations, facing lack, unable to enjoy the “overflowing-abundance” we’re meant to be experiencing?
The truth is that it’s not as we were taught. Can God heal us from sickness and diseases? Most definitely. Can He deliver us from poverty? Yes, for nothing is impossible for God.
There will always be those who voice their opinion against having to endure suffering. There’s the continuous argument that Christians shouldn’t be suffering, facing illnesses and going experiencing struggles. However, the bible is filled with scriptures referencing: light afflictions; sufferings; oppression; various trials. The bible clearly states that the Believer shouldn’t be surprised by these things.
God Allows Suffering.
Generally, the problem occurs because we interpret scripture through the context of our own lives. So when we read scriptures pertaining to suffering, and we haven’t really experienced any suffering, there’s difficulty in relating to it. These verses are easily brushed off and neglected because it simply doesn’t fit our narrative or experiences. Majority of the Western world will never know what it’s like having to gather with your brethren in an undisclosed, underground location, because openly serving God is forbidden. They’ll (hopefully) never have to experience not being able to publicly carry a bible and declare the good news.
We are made aware in the scriptures of the persecution the early church encountered for the sake of their faith in God. The truth is that this persecution did not cease to exist with the early church.
An average of 13 Christians killed every day. That’s nearly 400 Christians dying every month. Just because they follow Jesus. This heading from an article dated, January 18 2021 by Open Doors.
Christians beheaded by Islamic State in northern Mozambique. This article posted June 21, 2022 by Barnabas Fund.
“When we go to sleep at night, we are never sure whether we will make it alive to the next day,” says Pastor Jeremiah* whose Nigerian village was attacked by Fulani militants. “Even if we die, we are in the hands of God.”
There’s no shortage of articles unveiling the horrendous persecutions Christians face all over the world. Daily, our brothers and sisters persevere in the faith, in spite of the circumstances they encounter. “There is no longer any suffering because of what Jesus done on the cross” is a foolish mans confession.
And even though the suffering dealt with in the past few articles aren’t focused on killings and beheading per se, it’s needed to point out to which extent Christians experience suffering.
John 16:33 (NKJV)
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
Jesus says that even though we WILL, not may, but definitely will face tribulations, trials, sufferings, distress, He encourages us to be at peace, and of good cheer, courageous, not to fear, for He has overcome the world.
This is why He died on the cross, that in the midst of the trials and challenges, our souls may find hope and be secure in Him. The reason we seek to avoid suffering is because we desire to live a good, long, healthy and prosperous life. We add too much value to this life.
Presently, we need to endure what we need to, with the grace and mercy of God, fulfilling what He has created, called and chosen us for, yet knowing that we have an eternal life with Him. So even though we die, yet we will live (John 11:25).
James 1:2-4 (AMP)
Consider it nothing but joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you fall into various trials. Be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance [leading to spiritual maturity, and inner peace]. And let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing.
There is a definitive role which trials, struggles, and sufferings play in the life of the Believer. This false gospel which says, if we accept Jesus, our lives would be better and easy, leaves us ill-equipped to deal with these trials. Often the Believer is made to feel as though suffering is the evidence of sin in their lives, leaving a doorway open for the enemy to attack. But hardly are we ever encouraged that these trials come to aid us, testing us in order to grow our faith in God. We experience these sufferings that we may find ourselves seeking, praying to, hoping in and trusting God more. These tests come that our faith may be challenged, causing the quality of our faith to be developed and perfected.
And these trials and challenges are anything but easy. At times you want to give up and give in and say, “no more, I can’t go on, I’m not going to make it”. Many times these circumstances feel too much, as though it’s going to break us. The truth is, it can and it just might! But we need to find encouragement even in the worst of times. When it feels as though you’re drowning, and God seems afar off, not hearing your prayers.
Even then tell your soul to hope in God, remember His promises, TRY, TRY, TRY and pray. Utter the simplest prayer, GOD HELP! And even when the situation is unchanged, keep calling on Him until YOU believe He is going to come through. Because the truth is that God is not a man that He should lie (Numbers 23:19). God will not leave you nor forsake you, even when it seems He has. His Word is true, and He is true to His Word.
God doesn’t want us to remain as little children (immature), He requires of us to grow up and mature. The manner in which we mature is through the testing of our faith. It’s easy to speak about the goodness of God when all is well, but not so when things go in the opposite direction. What then does our confession become? Where is God? Why is this happening to me? Why me?
When we consider the ‘testing’ Job had to endure, we ourselves can become overwhelmed by his trials and afflictions. Job 13:15 (NKJV) “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him.” Even though Job often seemed to go through a roller-coaster of emotions, he persisted in hoping and trusting in God. Regardless of his circumstance and the contradicting voices around him, he fought to stand firm on God’s promises.
Job 42:10 (NIV)
After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.
Job 42:12 (KJV)
So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning.
When the verse in James begins “consider it pure joy when you face trials”, it ends with “that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing”. Evident I Job’s life, that the trial and testing he endured brought him to a place of “lacking nothing”. This is our encouragement, this is the fruits of our trials and suffering, that we may lack nothing.
I think the basic reason why Christian faith meets with opposition in the world and even finds resistance in our own hearts is that true saving faith always brings with it the reshaping of our heart and mind so that it is no longer we who live but Christ in us. In every human heart there’s an intense and powerful love for the praise of men. As naturally as what goes up must come down, humans gravitate toward ideas and actions which make them look great, and resist ideas and actions which make them seem small and insignificant.
Therefore, apart from the powerful grace of God overcoming our natural disposition to pride, we resist the coming of faith into our lives, because by faith Christ takes such dominant control of our lives and reshapes us so much into His image that we can no longer boast in anything good that we do. It does not appeal to the natural mind to be so transformed by Christ that we must give him credit for all the good we do.
Scripture permits us to confidently acknowledge the expectation of persecutions and sufferings, through the testing of our faith. We can establish that suffering, in whichever shape or form is still experienced today in certain parts of the world as it was in the early church, along with that which Paul continuously makes reference to. May we not lose faith or hope in God through our trials, but learn to endure like Job, Apostle Paul and so many others, that our latter might be greater than our beginning.
Philippians 4:12-13 (NIV)
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. And have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
*Please see OpenDoors.org to find out more about Christians being persecuted globally.
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