Philippians 1:29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him,
There
is a misunderstanding among the circle of Christians that we should be exempt
from pain or suffering. Our verse today lets us know that God has woven
suffering into our lives so that we might better represent Christ Jesus. This
verse says that God has granted us the privilege of suffering for Christ Jesus.
When a believer in Christ Jesus goes through suffering, we can have confidence
that it is always under God’s control. Any trial or tribulation we go through
is not an accident; God is always in control. Some have the wrong idea and
think that our time of suffering is some form of punishment from God, which is
untrue. On the contrary, our suffering is a gift from God to aid and assist in
our spiritual growth. Suffering in itself is not a privilege and most often unpleasant
but suffering for God is a blessing that only comes to a saved heart and soul.
There
will be many people that never accept the claims of the gospel of Christ until
they have seen a Christian go through some significant adversity. A believer
that is going through some enormous hardship will have an inner proclivity that
will impact the unbelievers around them. For example, someone has often come to
know Christ at the funeral of a saved Christian. All that we have in this life
of spiritual value is a gift from God, including the suffering we go through on
His behalf. It is easy to view our salvation as a gift from God, but do we
consider our suffering a gift? Do we desire to freely accept the gift of
salvation but hesitate to take the second gift, suffering?
We’re
not of this world; we are aliens living out of our suitcases. We should never
consider this life to be our goal. Since we are not citizens of this world, we
should not be surprised when we encounter some opposition.
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