Suffering Well...

I took this picture just up the road from our barn the other day. It is an oil well that means a lot to me. It reminds me of where we came from. It reminds me of the good times and the bad times of Texas. You see, as small of a world as it is, this same oil rig was on one of the many plots Susanna worked with in Texas every day at her old job. Little did we know that it would be located less than a mile away from where we would live once we moved home. We would always come by and see this old rig just pumping oil like crazy. It was such a peaceful moment to see it stopped, frozen stiff in the cold.

I was tucking Hayden into bed last night, performing our evening ritual of the many different books we read, then finishing with our Bible story and our prayers. It's become such a special time when I hear him repeat after me my prayers... such a beautiful thing to hear your child talk to God. Afterwards, he pulled out a couple of matchbox cars from under his pillow to play with while he went to sleep. I told him, "Hayden, it's time for the cars to go night-night too." To which he fussed for a millisecond, but then suddenly handed them right over. It made me think, "I know what's best for my son. He needs to go to sleep now so that he will feel rested in the morning when he has to get up and go to school." I laid on the pillow next to him, with one eye open as I watched him slowly fall to sleep. While I was laying there, I thought, "I wonder how often God has to discipline us to better us?" He knows what's best for us, but why do we so often fuss or complain about it? Why do we think that we are maybe even suffering? That is what we do, is it not? We don't like it when God disciplines us, so we maybe label it suffering? I'm not discrediting genuine suffering, either, please don't take it that way. There is true suffering.

God, who loves us so much, allows us to suffer. It should come to no surprise. We've lived in this world long enough to know that. But it's a question people often ask. I think, though, that it's one of the hardest things for some people to grasp. I hear questions like, "Why would a loving God allow suffering?" I think that sometimes it's to teach us, but I think it's also to give us opportunities to teach others. It's opportunities for us as "Christ Followers" to demonstrate that our lifetime is not really just here... that we are truly looking forward to the life ahead.

In John 17:20–19:16 we read about Jesus, “Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to Him, went…”
What follows that sentence in the next few chapters of John is absolutely unbearable brutality. Betrayed by His closest friends, rejected by His own people, tortured beyond recognition and eventually murdered—Jesus, the perfect Son of God, literally became sin for us so that we could be made right with the Father. And knowing the things that were going to be done to Him, knowing He had the opportunity to run or fight or lie, He still moved forward.
When Peter attempted to prevent Jesus’ capture, Christ said, “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” In that moment, as in the rest of His life on earth, Jesus chose obedience over comfort. Knowing that He faced betrayal, rejection, torture, and death, Jesus chose to move forward in obedience, directly into God’s plan for Him, directly into suffering.
Sometimes we think the absence of suffering is the will of God. We think pain couldn’t be a part of the Christian life. Where did we get that? But Jesus promised suffering to anyone who would follow Him. It's not just about some fire insurance... that we won't have to suffer eternally. Being a Christian is much more than not having to go to Hell. Christ's example shows us how suffering and obedience are inseparable for the believer.

In the days leading up to Jesus’ death, the suffering He endured was unimaginable, but the result of that obedience changed the course of history. Because He endured, going willingly to the cross to die for our sins, we can have hope and life in Him. Knowing everything, Christ still obeyed. But what about us? We don’t really know anything, do we? We can’t see beyond this moment. How can we endure the suffering of life? Betrayal? Rejection? Pain?
I think it then gives us the opportunity to look at the life of Paul, who said in Philippines 1:21, "To live is Christ, and to die is gain." What is suffering? It's an opportunity to give God more glory.

I love the book of Colossians, and in that book, Paul says "And whatever you do, whether it's in work or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." I have a friend by the name of Matt Chandler. He's never told me this personally, but he has through his life's testimony, and most of all, through his most recent battle with brain cancer, "Suffer, and suffer well."

It's my challenge for all of us that we suffer well for the kingdom of God. Maybe if we aren't, we need to step out just a tad of our comfort zones.

Blessings,
Frankie