Suffering with Grace

“For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ…to suffer.” 

Philippians 1:29 NKJV

You need the kind of faith that not only believes God for good things, but also sustains you through bad things. The Bible says, “If you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid…Instead…worship Christ as Lord of your life” (1Pe 3:14-15 NLT). God has foresight but we have only hindsight. So whether the path you’ve been called to walk is rough or smooth, your attitude should be one of “worship,” acknowledging “Christ as Lord of your life.” Joseph’s kidnapping led to the saving of his family. The lions’ den led Daniel to a cabinet position. Christ entered the world by a surprise pregnancy and redeemed it through an unjust murder. Do you believe what the Bible teaches—that no disaster is ultimately fatal? Chrysostom did. He was the archbishop of Constantinople from AD 398 to 404. He gained a following by his eloquent denunciations of corruption in the church. Twice banished by the authorities, he asked: “What can I fear? Will it be death? But to know that Christ is my life, and that I shall gain by death. Will it be exile? But the earth is the Lord’s and its fullness is the Lord’s. Will it be by loss of wealth? But we have brought nothing into the world, and we can carry nothing out. Thus all the terrors of the world are contemptible in my eyes; and I smile at all its good things. Poverty I do not fear; riches I do not sigh for. Death I do not shrink from.” That’s suffering with grace!

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