Suffering

I Peter 4:16

Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

This is so profound to me. If you are suffering, if you are in the midst of persecution, losing a job, losing friends, a rough time in your relationship, school not going well, rough time at home with family, you are not to be ashamed of it, but you are to turn and glorify God. I won’t lie, that is one of the last things I want to do when suffering hits. I don’t want to glorify God for the hard times I am going through. Family, we are to glorify God everyday. That is our mission, our calling, our purpose is it now? Though these things take such a toll on us and wears us out and it can seem like the walls of life come crashing down, in the midst of this can you glorify God? Can you give it all to Him and trust that He will get you through it instead of taking it into your own hands? Can you know that you are serving a God that is greater than any of your problems and can your life fully reflect that? This concept of suffering reminds us of another, I am reminded firstly about the story of Paul. He sat in the midst of suffering constantly and yet gave God all the glory of his life. He desired God to use him in mighty ways so that he might bring God the glory. He knew that compared to life that God was worth so much more. He knew that whether he died or not, it did not change that he would be glorifying God. he said that “to live is Christ and to die is gain” to say that if he lived, it would be Christ living in and through him instead of Paul living his own life, living by his own agenda, and if he died that he would be spending eternity with the King in paradise, glorifying God constantly,  forever more singing His praises. Another is Jesus’ suffering on the cross. That was done for God’s glory. That you might be forgiven so that you could know the Father intimately and in a real relationship, so that He could take you how you are and form you into the masterpiece that He created you to be, that He could satisfy you. May we not be afraid of suffering. May we know that when we suffer, that we suffer for the King. May we represent Him in those situations, may we respond as He would and not seeking our own benefit but putting others before us, humbling ourselves for the sake of the relationship. May we pursue our love of the King with reckless abandon, letting nothing stand in the way of it. May we seek His direction and guidance diligently so that we may bring Him glory through the situation. Family, through Christ alone will you get through the tough times. Through Christ alone will you ever truly experience peace and comfort in the midst of your world collapsing. Will you just trust him? Peter and the other apostles were in the midst of an insane storm, being tossed around, not knowing if they were going to die, yet when all hope seem lost, they saw Jesus at a distance, walking on the water. Peter called out to Christ that he would get out of the boat and walk to Christ in the midst of the storm if Christ called him to. He did. Peter listened in faith, ignoring the storm around him, completely fixated on his King, and he walked on the water to his Rabbi. Then he began looking around at the seas raging and listening to the roar of the wind and lost focus on God. His problems and circumstances began to look bigger than his God. His storm overcame Him. He began drowning. His life was about to end at the hand of this violent storm. Yet, when it seemed that it was over, Christ grabbed Peter’s hand, He rescued him, pulling him out from the water, pulling him out of the storm. Family, it is the same for us. The only ways that we will ever glorify God in our storms is if we seek Him throughout the storm or if we are saved by Him, through His mercy, when we are about to perish. May we strive to stay focused on our God so that we don’t have to go through the horrific process of losing sight of God and being overcome by our trials and only reaching out to Him as we are about to give up all hope. 

He loves you, enough to suffer for you more than you can ever understand. Can you bear suffering for Him in this one life for the sake of bringing Him more glory that will resound for eternity?

Blessings family.