Why do Christians Suffer? (Part 3) - 07/30/2016

WARNING PREACHY

So this is my last thoughts on why Christians suffer.  In the first part I suggest that it is because we do not know or disregard the Word of Christ in its written or spirit lead forms.  In the second part I suggest that we suffer in this world simply because we live in a cursed world that is under the dominion of the evil one.  In this third and final part, I am going to suggest that we Christians suffer simply because we are Christian.

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.  (Luke 9:23)

These words of Jesus are words of personal sacrifice.  They are words that call to the very core of men to endeavor to die to himself each day for the benefit of his fellow man – nay even his enemy.  Too many of us Christians have responded to the minister’s call to “be forgiven and go to heaven when you die” but have never thought about the life of a Christian.  In Jesus own words, if we are going to be His disciples we are to be a living representation of Himself while we remain on earth.  I suggest that we Christians often suffer because we really did not want to be walking talking martyrs of Jesus with our lives, we simply wanted to go to heaven when we die.

The struggle doesn’t begin there though, it begins the very moment that we understand that we are sinners.  The moment we acknowledge that we really are not a “good person” we must do some self-analysis and admit that we really are self-focused self-serving people.  We suffer with the act of bending a knee in humility before Him and asking Him to take control of our lives.  Then, after that initial act, we suffer with humility all the way through.  Loving our family more than ourselves, loving our enemy at all, humbling ourselves to being taught the ways of Christ from others, and daily remembering and trusting that we have a new identity in Jesus – that the old has gone and the new has come.  We suffer daily with trying to die to self – or at least we should.  A countless number of sermons have been written and preached reminding us Christians that we are no longer as we were, but as His Children, as we now are, by the power of the blood of Jesus.  Having this sort of faith is a constant struggle.

The point is that we Christians all suffer for a variety of reasons.

Few people know of Mother Theresa’s despair and suffering as she walked with God.  She reported that God very clearly called her to begin the ministry to the people at Calcutta, but once she did she reported that it felt like God had abandoned her.  For the rest of her life she daily suffered a spiritual loneliness while begging and pleading with Jesus to allow her to feel His presence once again.  However, every day, in faith, she continued to seek Him while she diligently kept at the task of serving the people she had been called to.   

I appreciate the above story because in Mother Theresa's suffering I see a daily picking up of a cross in order to continue her faithful serving of the people Jesus died for.  I see in her life’s work, a woman who accepted the suffering of the cross, and yet continued to follow Him daily.

Have any of my words over the past few weeks been of any comfort to you?  I think that most of us are willing to suffer so long as we can understand why we are suffering.  For some it may be ignorance or a disregard of God’s will, for others it could be that they are just overwhelmed by the natural world of sin in which we live, or it may even be simply that we struggle with the fact that we are Christian and the battles of faith against the devil, or personal will and desire, weigh us down.  In all actuality, it's a combination of everything that cause us to suffer.  My prayer, however, is that in all of our struggles we will remain faithful to our savior who gave His blood that we might live.

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.  (Hebrews 11:6)