THE MEANING OF SUFFERING IN 
THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN
(written upon the writer’s first experience
of being in the hospital)
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 THE WORLD is continually perplexed by the problem of human suffering—"WHY?"
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 The Christian knows why there is so much suffering in the world. The hman family is under the curse of sin; the human body is under the sentence of death (Genesis 3:16-19; Romans 8:18-23). Sooner or later suffering comes to all. All have an appointment with death that must be kept (Hebrews 9:27). Let’s face it. We are not going to get out of this world alive.
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 But all suffering, or pain, is not bad. What if the human body could not suffer pain? Pain is the body’s alarm system that lets us know when something goes wrong. Without this alarm system, we could have something drastically wrong, and not knowing it, die. Pain lets us know that something is wrong and that something needs be done to correct our problem.
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 As we approach this subject of suffering, Romans 8:28 is a marvelous verse for the true Christian to keep in mind. Listen: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
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 Please notice. (1) It didn’t say that all things worked together for our comfort, our convenience and pleasure, but for our GOOD. (2) But we must love God and be called according to His purpose. In other words, for this verse to apply to us we must be real Christians, consecrated and unreservedly devoted to the Lord. The lukewarm "church member" does not fit into this verse.
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 Every situation in life is a challenge for the Christian. If he keeps his faith and the right attitude, he is never the victim, but the victor; he is never the conquered, but is always the conqueror. In every circumstance of life (bond or free, Titus 2:9,10; living, suffering or dying, etc.) it is a challenge to him to face up to his situation and let the world see how a true Christian is to act and react, and by doing so, to adorn (make beautiful, Titus 2:10) the doctrine of God.
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 James wrote in his epistle: "My brethren, count it all joy [be glad] when ye fall into divers temptations [various kinds of trials]; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing" (James 1:2-8). Then James admonishes that we pray for wisdom that we can see the lesson to be learned in our suffering, that we may get the most good out of it.
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 As we said, the Christian should be "on top" of every situation. He is the victor, not the victim. Paul writes, "What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things…Who shall separate us from he love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?…Nay, IN ALL OF THESE THINGS WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS, through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:31-39).
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 Paul also wrote to the Corinthians, "For all things are your’s; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s" (I Corinthians 3:21-23). In other words, all things are servants to the Christian. Even death itself is his servant. If we really are right with the Lord, truly love Him, and believe the Bible, what is so bad about death after all? It will serve to deliver us from this old world of wrath and tears. Could anything be more wonderful than to be ushered into the very presence of the Lord with "joy unspeakable and full of glory" (I Peter 1:8,9)? Paul declared that to die was gain (Philippians 1:21). And it is for the Christian!
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 Then the apostles, having been beaten because of their testimony for Jesus, "departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name" (Acts 5:41). Of their situation, Paul wrote, "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body" (II Corinthians 4:8-10). Every Christian was likewise admonished, "But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy" (I Peter 4:13). They were glad that they could experience suffering like the Savior since he had suffered so much for them. How we need this attitude today!
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 God does not usually take away ordinary suffering in a Christian’s life (unless in some special cases in answer to prayer). We are still in this physical body, which is under the sentence of death. If God completely sheltered and "babied" Christians from all suffering and trials, the world would be flocking into the church out of selfish motives. No, not all of suffering is bad. God uses suffering to help the Christian spiritually. There is much good that can come from it. But Christians must approach suffering with the right attitude. We must be resigned to the will of God.
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I. SUFFERING MAKES US HUMBLE
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 Long periods of unbroken health and prosperity are not always the best for man. Man has a tendency to feel a little too secure and a little to self-sufficient, and consequently forgets God. He has a tendency to forget that he is mortal, or, at least he postpones it from his mind. He forgets that his life is very, very frail and fragile, and that it is constantly lived on the brink of eternity. It seems that it is during the periods of man’s greatest prosperity that he becomes the most wicked.
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 From the Creation to the Flood the life span of man approached a thousand years, with Methuselah having the oldest recorded age of 969 years. But after the Flood the average age of man fell back to about what it is today. There have been various attempts to explain this. The Bible doesn’t say, but could one of the reasons be that man's life was shortened so he would recognize his need of God more? During this period of time when men lived so long, they became exceedingly wicked—so wicked that God destroyed the world with a universal flood. Men of the world tend to leave God off until late in life. And living so long, man would become so hardened and depraved that he would not turn to God at all in his later years.
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 The Laodiceans illustrate our point of being a little too self-sufficient. The Lord’s indictment against them was, "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that though mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see" (Revelation 3:17,18). Prosperity had not helped this church spiritually.
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 However, misfortune and suffering make us humble. It makes us realize that we are the sin-cursed creature, and not the Creator. It makes us realize as the flower of the grass we soon fade away; that nothing in this old world is permanent, not even man. It is said of king Manasseh of Judah, as he was being taken into Babylonian captivity, "And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers" (II Chronicles 33:12). Suffering makes us humble.
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 In the Psalms we read this fitting prayer of David: "Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them" (Psalms 39:4-6). Recognizing man’s frailty and brevity of life makes us humble. Experiencing suffering brings these truths home to us in a very personal way.
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 The apostle Paul had some kind of physical infirmity which he calls his "thorn in the flesh." He asked the Lord to take it away three times, but God did not honor his request. Suffering this infirmity would be one means God would use to keep him humble (II Corinthians 12:7-10).
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 Christian, let us learn the lesson of humility from suffering, being made very much aware of just how weak and fragile we really are. Let us learn to depend upon the Lord, and live for eternity. "Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray" (James 5:13a). "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you" (I Peter 5:6,7).
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II. SUFFERING PURIFIES AND PERFECTS
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 Within all of us there are imperfections, there is dross, and there may be secret sins that need to be gotten rid of. Our consecration may not be complete. Suffering purifies us like the smelting process of ores. Peter refers to this when he speaks of "the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth though it be tried with fire" (I Peter 1:7). Just as the gold is refined to a greater stage of purity, suffering purifies the Christian. We are brought face to face with ourselves (just who and how weak we are), our sins, and our God. Purification takes place as we repent.
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 Peter also wrote, "Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin. That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God" (I Peter 4:1,2). In suffering we are able to get our values straightened out and see everything in the proper perspective, see the things that really count in life (like loving and serving God with all of our hearts).
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 Then Peter also further wrote, "But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you" (I Peter 5:10). Suffering, whether it be from persecution or otherwise, will lead to all of these things being accomplished in our lives if we will but let it.
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 And to further emphasize what we are saying, examine Hebrews 12:5-11. "And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards [illegitimate], and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their pleasure [as seemed best to them]; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."
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 Beloved, let us have the proper attitude toward our suffering. If we let Him, God will use it for our eternal well being. It purifies. It helps us develop character. With the Psalmist of old we can cry out, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes" (Psalms 119:71). With Paul we can testify that "we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost [Spirit] which is given unto us" (Romans 5:3-5). Amen!
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III. SUFFERING MAKES US COMPASSIONATE
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 One who has experienced suffering has a feeling toward the suffering of others that he never had before. He may have before shown concern, and even sympathy, toward those fallen into adverse circumstances. But once he has suffered, his feelings turn into compassion. He personally knows what his fellow human being is enduring, and his heart goes out to him. That is why Christians, as members of the same body, should have deep feelings for one another. "And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it" (I Corinthians 12:26).
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 We can see this truth in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is now our faithful high priest in heaven, interceding on our behalf. Under the Old Testament, to qualify, the high priest had to be taken from among his brethren. Jesus became flesh and blood and lived among us. "Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted" (Hebrews 2:17,18). "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:15,16). Jesus suffered in the flesh. Jesus was tempted to sin. That being the case, we know that he has deep feelings of compassion toward us.
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 And, after we have suffered, we have a deeper feeling of compassion toward Jesus. Just think what an awful death he died on the cross of Calvary that we might be saved from our sins and their consequence! We are made to love him even more. Praise His Name!
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 It is good that through suffering we can come to have more compassion for our fellow human beings. This is God’s will.
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IV. SUFFERING MAKES US THANKFUL
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 Many times we are not thankful. We really don’t know how to be thankful. We have always had good health and lived in an affluent society. But once suffering comes, that picture is changed. We stop and count our blessings. We are made to realize just how good God has been to us. We are more thankful for the Savior. We learn to appreciate and enjoy even the little things in life.
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 God wants Christians to be a thankful people. There is nothing more obnoxious than the ingrate. Suffering cannot be all bad when it makes us be more thankful.
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 Kind reader, as we bring these thoughts to a close, we ask, what does suffering personally mean to you? What it means to you, whether it will be a blessing or not, will all be determined by you (as you keep your faith and the right attitude). Let us take the Lord Jesus as our personal example as we face suffering. He prayed, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matthew 26:39). Then if God does not see to answer our prayer in the affirmative, let us pray with Jesus, "O my Father, if this cup many not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done" (Matthew 26:42). Being resigned to God’s will, let us get all of the spiritual good that we can out of our suffering. Remember: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). Also remember this blessed promise: "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5b). God will give you grace to bear it. Amen!
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