By Paul Borthwick and Dave Ripper
Who on earth doesn’t have something they don’t want? Cancer or some other chronic disease. Infertility. Depression. Indebtedness. The experience of domestic abuse. Suffering as a result of systemic racism. A drug- or alcohol-addicted child. The sudden loss of a spouse. Traumatic memories of a family tragedy.
Or want something they don’t have? A loving spouse. Reclaiming wasted years. A home in a peaceful neighborhood. Family members who follow Jesus Christ? A disabled child healed.
Who do you know who doesn’t wish they could make something in their life either go away for good or appear with permanence? Ponder this for a moment yourself: what do you have that you don’t want? What do you want that you don’t have?
The bottom line: your personal and particular kind of suffering counts as suffering. Some things (like being ostracized from your family) might be specific sufferings for Jesus, but suffering in all forms draw us into the fellowship of those who suffer. Whatever kind of pain or suffering you’re experiencing, it’s real, it’s acknowledged, and God stands with you and is present with you.
You suffer. We all suffer. Forgive our bluntness, but suffering—in so many forms—sucks!
Those of us who consider ourselves Christians are no exception either. In fact, we are not only included in the human experience of suffering but are given widespread biblical witness to prepare us for suffering that might have been avoided had we chosen not to follow Christ: persecution, hardship, relational turmoil, loneliness, confusion, seasons of spiritual darkness. The suffering Christians experience is as varied as the suffering all humans experience. And often, just as unpredictable, and every bit as painful.
The witnesses to Christian suffering seem relentless. Jesus was explicit: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24 ESV). “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33).
James was insistent, “Count it all joy . . . when you meet trials of various kinds” (James 1:2 ESV). Not if but when.
Paul was unapologetic: “There’s a lot of suffering to be entered into in this world—the kind of suffering Christ takes on.” (Colossians 1:24 The Message).
Scripture is emphatic: suffering, in all its forms, is an unequivocal, inescapable part of not only the fallen, human condition but the Christian life. Given this reality, we must ask, How can we learn to live as fully and faithfully as possible, despite the unavoidable, unwelcome presence of suffering?
PAUL BORTHWICK and DAVE RIPPER are the authors of The Fellowship of the Suffering: How Hardship Shapes Us for Ministry and Mission.
Taken from The Fellowship of the Suffering by Paul Borthwick and Dave Ripper. ©2018 byPaul Borthwick and Dave Ripper. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove IL 60515-1426. www.ivpress.com
The Fellowship of the Suffering: How Hardship Shapes Us for Ministry and Mission
Paul Borthwick & Dave Ripper
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