Blessings in Suffering

Photo: Pierre Bouillot (Unsplash)

Since the time that I've finished school, I've often thought of the times that I spent there - some joyous and others, well, just down right terrible. With one curve ball after another, it felt like the only time that I could catch a breath was when I went to church on Sundays and when I had my personal time with God daily. I constantly felt that I was overwhelmed, and school didn't help out much back then.

In school, I majored in Biology, but few people knew that I minored in Religious Studies (since I couldn't minor in something like Christianity or Biblical Studies). Although I did focus my studies on Christianity, given that I didn't go to a seminary, I was forced to take courses such as World Religions, even Islam. I didn't mind taking the courses because I knew God as my Savior and my faith was strong, but at moments it was a challenge to defend what I believe to someone who thought something completely different.

"For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing god than for doing evil." - 1 Peter 3:17

Suffering for our faith in Christ isn't a matter of if it will happen, but a matter of when. We want everything to run smoothly in our lives - no trials, no worries - but unfortunately we live in a broken, fallen world that is daily growing in hostility towards our belief in God. 

Dr. David Jeremiah has a book and is currently going through the series on his televised messages called "I Never Thought I'd See the Day." For me, I never thought (in my very limited years on earth) that I'd see the day that the definition of biblical marriage would be challenged, that corruption would override a life set apart to live justly by faith in God, and the evilness of abortion would outshine morality and the value that lies in every human being. We, as Christians, can't keep standing back doing nothing - we're called to take action.

Photo: Vladimir Kudinov (Unsplash)

1 Peter 3: 15 states:

"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear."

Sanctifying God in my heart means that above all else, God is the head of my life and my heart, and through reading His Word and communicating with Him, my heart is sensitive to the things He cares for and I will, in response, serve Him willingly with a pure heart. With God as the head of our lives, the suffering that we currently endure will only feel as a minor problem to us, because our hope isn't found in anything in this world. 

This suffering you're enduring for the Gospel of Christ is only for a moment. Sufferings will come in life, but we serve a God that has overcame the world. Allow this moment to be a way to share the Gospel.

SDG