A Disciple Suffers

Pause:

Before you start reading this devotional, take a moment to stop what you’re doing, slow down and focus on Jesus. 

Pray and ask him to open your eyes to see as you read the Scriptures, and to open your ears to hear as you wait on the leading of the Spirit.

Read:

2 Corinthians 4:7-18: “Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us. 8 We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; 9 we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed. 10 We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that Jesus’s life may also be displayed in our mortal flesh. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life in you. 13 And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, ‘I believed, therefore I spoke,’ we also believe, and therefore speak. 14 For we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you. 15 Indeed, everything is for your benefit so that, as grace extends through more and more people, it may cause thanksgiving to increase to the glory of God.

16 Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. 17 For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. 18 So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Romans 5:3-5: “And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, 4 endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. 5 This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Going Deeper:

In this broken and sinful world, it should be no surprise that we endure suffering. We will deal with pain in this life. We may even deal with unique pains as followers of Jesus: “In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).

For the disciple of Christ, however, suffering is not meaningless. All suffering, even the most unthinkable, serves a purpose in Christ. Suffering humbles us, “so that Jesus’s life may also be displayed in our mortal flesh.” Every pain in Christ produces good fruit: endurance and character and hope. Like gold in a refining fire, we can become more and more like Christ in our suffering. We can even boast in our suffering, and in the work it’s doing in us and through us!

Of course, that’s easy to say before or after we’ve experienced it, but not as easy to say while we’re in pain. In the midst of our suffering, we may only have questions and despair and anger, and yet Jesus is with us even there.

Suffering is part of the life of the disciple of Jesus. It is not unusual or unexpected, and it will always be part of our spiritual life. Yet, it matters deeply how we view our suffering, and what we do with it. Will we allow God to use our suffering to sanctify us and grow us, or will we try to ignore its reality? Or, as counterintuitive as it sounds, can we welcome some of our life’s trials openly or even with joy? “Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2-4).

Whether you’re in the midst of pain or thinking through past pains, may it be a comfort that all of a disciple’s pain is used by Jesus for our good. May God give us the faith to believe that even the most horrifying loss can be used to display Jesus’ goodness. May God give us the faith to believe that He sees our suffering and walks through it with us. And may He give us the strength to endure suffering with hope!

Pray:

Respond to God in prayer by speaking to Him about what stood out to you from this passage this morning.

Listen:

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you this morning?

Apply:

What are you going to do in response to what God is saying to you from the text and by the Spirit?