Learning to Suffer Well

Everything about Christ is a paradox. 

He is the God of all and yet comes to earth as a humble, fragile man.
Born as a king in a manger in one of the lowliest towns of Israel. 
As Isaiah said, he had nothing in his outward appearance that anyone should desire him yet crowds flocked to him for just a touch.
He was the holiest man to ever live and yet spent his time with sinners condemned by the religious community.
He taught that we are to die in order that we might live.  Be last rather than first.  Forgive our worst enemies and love those who hate us.  Use our freedom to be a slave to all. 
In His kingdom, He promised that all who mourn will be comforted, those who hunger will be satisfied, and the prideful will be reduced to their real estate. 

He also modeled and taught that it is glory to suffer, provided we are suffering for the right cause.

I don't know about you, but I don't really like to suffer.  Last night with our church family, we were talking about Paul and Silas just having been flogged, stocked, and jailed and yet the Holy Spirit rises up in them and they spend their hours singing hymns.  I've got to be honest.  It would be the Holy Spirit ALONE that would cause me to have that kind of reaction.  After our discussion, I have been mulling this over and was convicted deeply about an aspect of being salt and light in this world- 

We exemplify Christ most when we suffer well. 

I remember reading Amy Carmichael's biography (she was a long-term missionary to India-- if you don't know her story, you should definitely check it out!) and being so broken by my sinfulness when I read her heart toward suffering and trial.  She talked of reminding herself in the midst of hardship to "see a chance to die." 

The thing is that no mortal sinful man likes to suffer.  In our own sinful nature, we can be joyful when life is going well, relationships are smooth, finances are in order, and our children are behaving well.  However, when everything unravels, we reveal one of two things:  The sinking sand of circumstance upon which we have built our lives or the rock of Christ that upholds us regardless of circumstance. 

For those of you that know me well, you know that I love biographies of great men and women of God who have trusted him and seen him work miraculous things.  George Muller, John Calvin, Mother Teresa, Amy Carmichael, Jim and Elizabeth Eliot, David Livingstone, and the list could go on and on.  My heart swells just thinking about the beauty of Christ displayed in their lives.  The funny thing is that as I read their stories, the times when Christ is most exalted among unreached people and when miracles most impact the church by bringing encouragement and conviction is when suffering occurs and Christ power allows them to respond with praise, victory, hope, and strength. 

Jim Eliot perishes at the hands of native people whom he had gone to bring the gospel and in his perishing, a door is opened up that leads to the salvation of the tribe. 

Mother Teresa leaves home never to see her own mother again only to be a mother to thousands of dying children of India. 

David Livingstone endures illness and treacherous terrain to gain the trust of abused Africans in order to share the goodness of Jesus. 

George Muller spends hour after hour in desperate prayer for finances to feed the British orphans God has entrusted to His care and when the last minute arrives, His hope is renewed by God's great provision. 

In my last post, I shared about the loneliness I have struggled with in this season. This has been a daily struggle for me recently. There are also daily trials that I am given the opportunity to respond to (such as our eldest daughter Kafui locking herself in our downstairs bathroom today with my only phone :-)). In each and every hardship, trial, or suffering, you and I have the opportunity to die to ourselves, our feelings, our idea of how things should be, and joyfully pick up the cross of Christ like Paul and Silas did, rejoicing over the fact that we can face suffering with the hope of eternal perfected life and the good company of Christ who has known all human suffering personally.  Your suffering might be much greater than mine, but the beautiful thing is that no suffering, no matter how terrible, can be greater than the suffering Christ endured. 

So, the question the Lord has posed to me today and I pose to you is: 
How will you suffer this day?  

What will people see in you when they see you facing trials?  What would your biography read in regards to suffering and the power of Christ in your life? 

Will you complain and grumble? 
Will you worry? 
Will you succumb to fear or temptation? 

Or, will you pray? 
Will you sing? 
Will you respond with gratitude and trust? 

When Paul and Silas rejoiced in their suffering, the power of God was made known in their midst.  An earthquake.  A once confident jailer on his knees humbled by the God who gave his shamed and abused prisoners the hope to sing in the midst of their suffering.  An entire household granted eternal life and the gospel preached to the whole of the jail. 

And, as if this was not enough, Paul and Silas were freed from their chains. 

All because the Spirit of Christ gave two men the power to suffer as He had.  Lord Jesus, make it so in us.  May we see in this day a chance to die.