“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:16-18)
That we will suffer is the one, unalterable fact of human existence. The only question is how will we suffer. Will we suffer miserably, letting our pain corrupt and destroy us; or will we suffer, and yet be more than a conqueror through Him who loved us?
Jesus said we can do nothing without Him. Perhaps, we can smile and laugh when life is good; but when storms batter us, we will eventually crack and collapse if Christ is not the foundation of our life. Paul came to count whatever appeared to be gain and good for his life as dung compared to knowing Christ in the fellowship of His sufferings.
What matters to us? The world’s good or God’s good? God’s good is conformity to Christ. God’s good is being able to face life as it is, and not how we would like it to be, without raging, without hating, without bitterness, envy, or sorrow that would swallow us up.
Jesus did not come into this world to deliver us from suffering. He came to rescue us from our propensity to sin when we suffer. When we suffer He calls us to come to Him, to learn of Him, to respond as He would. To suffer well. To not be overcome by any evil, but to overcome evil with good.
To suffer with Christ is joy unspeakable and full of glory. To suffer without Christ is misery beyond words – hell on earth. A human race reeling in pain desperately needs a Savior. He has come, not to deliver us in this present age from suffering, but to deliver us from the sin we so easily fall into when we suffer. And if we will learn to suffer with Him now, we will reign forever with Him throughout eternity.