Suffering with Joy
By Pastor Brian Albert
C. S. Lewis once commented, “the real problem is not why some pious, humble believing people suffer, but why some do not.” Jesus predicts that those who follow Him will suffer for Him. “Happy are you when people will insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me” (). If you are a believer, it is assumed you will suffer. But Christianity is not a sadistic religion. The end is not in the suffering, but in the glory. Paul wrote in , “we exult in our tribulation.” Why do we rejoice in our trials? Because of what Paul says in the previous verse, “we exult in the hope of the glory of God.” Why did Jesus “endure the cross, despising its shame? The reason was that it was for the joy set before him” ().
The problem with many Christians is that their suffering becomes an end in and of itself. They focus on being despised at the expense of the joy; they wallow in the tribulation and forget the glory. The perspective of the Christian with pain should be the blunt declaration of Job. “The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord” (). Remember Job had lost nearly everything he loved and owned, and the truth of his statement is that things change, trials come and go, but the Lord will always be glorified. This packs a walloping blow against those who want to elevate their pain and suffering over and above the fact that God uses pain merely as a tool for His own glory.
The Christian who is driven to despair loses their focus from their God who will be glorified to the means to accomplish this end. They no longer are looking to Jesus as an example of how to suffer well. They no longer see the perspective of , “Therefore do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” The eyes of the suffering saint are on the Savior who will bring us out of our trial, which is a deliberate instrument of His glory.
Our suffering becomes joy when we understand that nothing, including trials, will replace or distract the Center of the Universe from getting the praise He deserves.
For His Glory and Our Good,
Pastor Brian