Blessed to Suffer
Philippians 1:29-30 God has blessed you in ways that serve Christ. He allowed you to believe in Christ. But that is not all. He has also given you the honour of suffering for Christ. Both of these bring glory to Christ. You saw the difficulties I had to face, and you hear that I am still having troubles. Now you must face them too.
When we go through times of suffering (as we all do), the last thing we ever imagine is that this suffering could be a blessing. I mean, who would ever use those two words “suffering” and “blessing” in the same breath?
When we dream of the future, we always dream about good things, about blessings. None of us ever sits there hoping, praying, for a time of suffering. No, we avoid suffering like the plague. And because none of us ever wants to suffer, it’s easy to get this whole blessing/suffering thing completely out of whack in our minds.
The Apostle Paul was a man who, more than most, was accustomed both to blessing and suffering. Here’s his take:
Philippians 1:29,30 God has blessed you in ways that serve Christ. He allowed you to believe in Christ. But that is not all. He has also given you the honour of suffering for Christ. Both of these bring glory to Christ. You saw the difficulties I had to face, and you hear that I am still having troubles. Now you must face them too.
Why has God blessed you? How has God blessed you? In ways that serve Christ. His blessings to you aren’t meant to stop with you. They’re meant to flow out through you into the lives of others for His glory. That’s point one.
Point two is that along with those blessings comes the honour of suffering for Christ as they flow out of you. So the next time you’re doing it tough, know this: That when you suffer for Christ with a good heart, a good attitude, still allowing His blessings to flow out through you while you’re hurting … both of these things bring glory to Christ.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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John banera
We are naturally brought up with hard minds, minds of “seeing is believing”nature. Not until someone ...
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We are naturally brought up with hard minds, minds of “seeing is believing”nature. Not until someone encounters a miracle that he will believe God’s presence in his life.