Suffering

“But please be sure that you understand this. Jesus did not suffer so that we will not suffer, but that our suffering would be one that we would not lose hope. He did not suffer so that we will not suffer. Don't ever get the idea that to know Jesus and be in good standing with God means that somehow you're going to get a, you know, get out of jail free card, that you're going to just pass by suffering in life.”

“Eugene Peterson said, among other things, pastoral work is a decision to deal on the most personal and intimate terms with suffering. It does not try to find ways to minimize suffering or ways to avoid it. It is not a search after the cure for suffering. Pastoral work engages suffering. It is a conscious, deliberate plunge into the experience of suffering. We suffer. We struggle.”

“Knowing that he suffered for us, that he suffered with us, that he suffered that he might deliver us beyond our suffering. Such that Paul wrote in the book of Romans, I suppose that the sufferings of this present life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in heaven. John, suffering in particular, was identified in his location.”

“And Jesus did not promise us an easy life. In fact, we know from our Adventure Week verse in John 16 that Jesus said, in this world you will have trouble, you will have suffering, you will have trials and tribulations. The Bible is very clear that all of us will suffer. So the question is not what or who or will I suffer? The question for us that we need to begin to ask is what will suffering produce in us?”

“To go to places where suffering is the day-to-day life. And I don't mean suffering like we as Americans think suffering is, like, oh, my Wi-Fi's out today. I mean true suffering. Suffering where they don't know where their next meal is coming from. I think I've told this story before, but I've went many years over to Haiti.”

“Now, you can suffer for being unrighteous. Don't get me wrong. Obviously, we can do things for which sin has magnificent consequences in our lives. But if you are in Christ, you may suffer, but the bitterness of that suffering is a part of what helps you to understand the bitterness of the cross and to look beyond the suffering that you might see the glory of Christ through the resurrection.”

“When I was serving as fire chief in Shreveport, Louisiana in the early 2000s, I began to experience a series of personal and professional challenges. Sometimes, brothers, as it relates to sufferings, some sufferings come sequentially. You go through a period of suffering and then you're over that suffering. Then you have a period of peace. And then, lo and behold, here comes another period of suffering.”

“The Bible promises suffering. So, the question we ask is not "Will I or will I not suffer?" The question that we need to begin to ask ourselves is what will my suffering produce? What will the suffering that I go through? What it will What it will What will it produce in me and through me?”