But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. (1 Peter 4:13, ESV)
Yesterday, I shared how not to let your suffering become your identity. Your identity is in Christ. But as we consider the question of suffering I want to encourage you to identify with your suffering. It’s not the same as allowing it to become your identity. Let me explain what I mean.
What I mean with this is to seek to understand. Seek to learn. Seek to grow. Allow your suffering to become an opportunity to become more aware of God’s presence in your life. Suffering is not a good thing, but good can come from it.
As Americans, we do so much to try to avoid suffering. If we have a headache, we will take a pill to make it go away. But just simply making it go away may not be the best thing for us. Why do you have the headache in the first place? Are you getting enough sleep and rest? Are you dehydrated? Are you excessively worrying over something? In this case, your suffering might point to a deeper problem in your life which needs to be addressed. The point is that if we are just seeking to make it go away, we might miss out on on recognizing that fact. Identify with your suffering because there may be an important lesson to learn.
Some questions might ask in the midst of our suffering:
- What can I learn from Jesus through my suffering?
- Is there something in my life I need to correct?
- How does my suffering draw me closer to God?
- How does my suffering help me to know Jesus better?
- How can I be more like Jesus in my suffering?
- Who can I help that is suffering in a way similar to me?
It can be hard but ask the difficult questions in your suffering. I think of the struggles that I have gone through in life. So many of those struggles I would never want to experience again. At the same time, I am glad for the lessons learned through the experiences.
Reflection
- Is there an example in your life where you learned and grew through your suffering?
- How do you identify with your suffering?
Prayer
Lord, I have had many struggles in life. They are hard to endure, but I thank for the lessons learned. I thank you for walking with me through the difficult times. Help me to see even now in the difficult moments what you are teaching me. Use the challenges in life to make me stronger in faith and more aware of your presence. Amen.
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