Why we should suffer- Part 1

“Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because those who have suffered in their bodies are done with sin. As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you. 5But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit. The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. 1 Peter 4: 1-7

I read this scripture last night and it got me thinking a lot about my life, the decisions I have made and why I am at this stage of my life. I read it the second time, and it hit me-most of the things that I have set my mind on in the past, have ended up eventually manifesting in my life, and this is the reason I am where I am today. All the good things I have thought about and cultivated in my life have produced good fruit and all the bad things have equally produced dead fruit. Then I read the scripture the third time, and I saw just how much truth and revelation was embedded therein; so I asked the Lord to give me words of wisdom and the grace so that I can share with you the truth that has just been revealed to me in the hopeful attempt that these words, in the least bit, just might be the turning point in someone’s life, just as they have been in mine. So I will expound on each verse with the wisdom that the Spirit has granted me so that I leave no truth assumed, but plainly understood.

But before I proceed, I am going to take it for granted that all who are reading this have, in the least bit, heard of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that whatever the religion they follow to practice their faith, they believe that there is one true God;

I am also going to take for it granted further that you believe that the word of God, which is the Bible, was written by the inspiration of the Spirit and is the eternal truth;

And lastly, I further take it for granted that you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the messiah and the savior of all mankind.

“Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body” We all know, or should I say, we assume we know how our Lord Jesus suffered. The Bible says that he was tempted by the devil, arrested by his own people, called a thief, carried a heavy cross, whipped, insulted, spat on, crowned with thorns, crucified, speared, and many other dreadful things. However, Jesus knew that he was meant to suffer. Consider though, that all of Jesus’ sufferings were to his body. It was his body, his human body, to which all the above things were done. The human body that our lord inhabited, brought him tremendous suffering why? Because the body’s characteristic desire is to make man want to do, say, hear, and think things that are of the world, things that are against the will of God, and when we do not follow these desires, these ways of the flesh (read the world) we suffer, or more accurately, our body suffers. So Jesus did not obey his human desires. He did not obey the devil who was telling him to turn stones to bread or throw himself down; he did not choose his family over the rest of the people; he did not prove or boast that he was Messiah even when he was slapped and spat on; he did not even turn away from death yet he feared that the burden was too heavy to carry.

So how do we, as followers of Christ, suffer today? When our body is too tired and lazy to go to church and we force it to- it suffers; when our bodies covet another woman’s husband, or desire to have sex outside marriage, and we ran from it- it suffers; when our bodies desire to imbibe that glass of whisky, that cold Bell, that extra piece of black-forest cake, and we say no- it suffers; when we hold back on indulging in gossip, insulting that irritating taxi conductor, taking that bribe, lying to our friends, hating people, back-biting and being spiteful of our boss, jealousy, selfishness- all things that come naturally to our human body- the body suffers. Now the suffering I am speaking of here is not the I-need-more-money, i-long-for-a-husband, i-am-losing-my-house etc type kind of suffering. Not that that is not suffering, it is, but the type I am referring to here is the suffering we face because we deny our bodies the things it craves when we choose to follow the will of God.

Now to some of us, suffering is many things and happens in various ways. Not to belittle anybody’s kind of suffering, but I think whenever we are having a tough time, fighting off the temptations and issues of this world, it would help us a long way to remember Jesus’ suffering which was way, way more painful than what we go through, but most of all, it would help us to remember how he came out victorious at the end of it all. The important thing though, is to learn how Jesus persevered through his suffering. This was by having a different attitude, which Peter exhorts us to carry below:

“arm yourselves also with the same attitude”, Now the attitude being spoken of here is the attitude Jesus had when he was suffering. Throughout the times Jesus was suffering, he always, rested on the word of God, he always did what the will of God commanded that he should do, but I also think he wore humility above all else. When Jesus was tempted by the devil, he quoted the word of God, when Jesus was afraid of death, he prayed; when Jesus was insulted, mocked, speared and crucified, he forgave his condemners sins. Imagine that! Even as I write this, I am so totally humbled; and cringe at the thought of the complaining and grumbling I do mbu when I am suffering! We have not known suffering; none such as the one Jesus went through yet can you imagine how much we exhibit weakness, protest, misery and a complaining attitude because we want to have things our way? So, when the scripture says that we should have a similar attitude, this means that all the while we are suffering, (denying our fleshly desires) we should arm ourselves with the Word, wear humility and generally have a Christ-like attitude. Note that, suffering is not optional. The Bible says in many instances that we shall suffer, and should share in the sufferings of Christ so that we shall share in his glory as well. There is hope however, at the end of all this- “because those who have suffered in their bodies are done with sin. As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.” Can you imagine what is like to be done with Sin? When sin, the devil and all his legions have no hold on you, and you are living a life, a life so high above the kind and type of this world, free from fleshly desires and all? Now that is living the Life! This is a promise, a promise written in black and white, that we can take to the Bank, as it were. The apostle Peter is telling us the rewards of suffering which is the great reward of freedom, and living the ultimate kingdom Life- a life that we as believers in Christ are born to live. Succumbing to the desires of the flesh is the worldly way of living, and since the evil one is the king of this world, do I really need to spell it out whom we will have chosen to serve if we choose to follow our bodily desires?

“For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.” This is so straight forward and obvious that I think I should not comment on it at all lest I water it down. I mean, we all know the kind of lives we lived before we received salvation. But I think I should comment on the use of the word “choose”. This word clearly denotes the presence of option. This means that, we do consciously decide to do the things that we do. So when suffering comes, the action we take at that moment, will either give us the kingdom life, or lead us to the grave, yes the grave- because the reward for sin is death! I guess I should remind you or probably press on you here that when I say suffering I am not merely speaking of emotional distress and/ or physical pain - I am speaking of all sorts of suffering that we as followers of Christ undergo when we choose, there is that word again, not to follow the ways of this world; even though emotional and physical pain are most usually the consequences of choosing the worldly life. In other words, what I am saying here is that, when we follow Christ, we are guaranteed to suffer- yes I think this comes out more clearly. We will suffer; and there are no two ways about it.

I do want you to digest all the above so I will stop here in an attempt to let you take this all in. However, if I should have one more thing to say it will be this- as long as we are alive in this world, life will always, always throw us a curve ball, and this is not the worst thing that can happen. There will always be times when this body we inhabit will try to get its way to make us obey it. When we choose to continuously follow these desires of the world and permanently kill the spirit of God that lives in us- then the worst thing has happened, for then we will die! And no matter how God loves us, and He loves all of us, we will not, even with this intense love, survive his wrath and the end of days if we “choose” not to obey his commands. As Mr. Dollar once said, if you do not obey His word, God loves you enough to lead you to the path of hell and even open the gates for you, while loving you all the way, because love is His nature. However, only you, you, you, can make the decision right now, to choose life, or death!

May the Lord watch and keep you always.