Time to Suffer

One of the strangest things with Christians (unfortunately including me half the time) is that we expect not to suffer. In fact, we pray not to suffer. Weird.

God promises us we will suffer. For instance, in today’s reading (2 Corinthians 1) we’re told that the sufferings of Christ will flow into our lives. Paul shares that he has suffered to the point of death, and wishing for death. So why are we surprised by suffering?

Not only does God promise we will suffer, He tells us that suffering is one of His greatest tools in chiseling us into the people we need to become. So we should welcome and take joy in our suffering. But we don’t. Actually, we get upset with God when we suffer.

So maybe we need to stop praying for our marriages to be easy, for our churches to be a joy, for all our desires to be fulfilled, and start inviting suffering, and praying for the comfort God provides when we do.