This was my retort to my activist friend as we continued our enjoyable discussions on the issue of gay marriage. This soldier, being thoughtful and fair-minded, has always pledged that he would fight just as hard to defend religious liberty as he has for gay marriage. He says this, in part, because he will overhear Christians speak in hushed tones about how Christians in America are being increasingly persecuted. That was when I blurted out "So we suffer."
As a citizen of the US, I have concerns for the future of liberty. I follow the policies of England and Canada, which increasingly encroach upon economic liberty, as well as the freedom and speech and religion, in order to avoid offense and enforce certain politically correct orthodoxies. I grieve for those societies, and I grieve for the future of liberty in general.
But as a citizen of another kingdom, I refuse to shed a tear. Since when was suffering a bad thing? It doesn't take a Christian to notice this reality. The Jew Victor Frankl knew unimaginable suffering in the Holocaust, but realized that no one need be a victim of suffering. One can suffer well. One can die well.
And suffering is not bad for the Church. In fact, it is a wonderful tonic. It humbles the Christian and forces Him to rely upon the sufficiency of Christ. It grants perspective to the Christian, helping him to focus upon the heavenly glory that awaits rather than the present travails. It grants assurance to the Christian, knowing that he humbly treads in the footsteps of his Lord and Savior. It glorifies Christ, who saving work is proclaimed and sustaining work revealed in the suffering believer.
In Risk is Right, Piper notes that security in this world is an illusion. The remarkable thing is we still devote a lifetime to achieve security. But the reality is, we have no idea what tomorrow will bring. As God tells us through James, our lives are but a mist. Tomorrow, it may be cancer or a car crash. We can try to insulate ourselves as much as we want, but we still stand naked and exposed within the sovereign hand of God.
Every day, every person walks by faith. Either that is faith in one's only ability to secure the future, or it is faith in God's ability to provide in accordance with His will. The security of the Christian is not material. It is knowing that nothing can separate him from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It is about time for Christians to recover the concept of suffering from the clutches of our anesthetized society. Suffering is as precious as it is grievous. It is what happens to sinners in a broken world. It would be the defining trait of human existence (as some philosophers have believed), except that God sent His Suffering Servant to bear the weight of human sin and bind the wounds of suffering with eternal hope.
As long as Christians labor to avoid suffering, they weaken their walk with the Lord, shutter the doors of the church to their fellow sufferers, and waste the few days appointed to them on this earth.
My friends, we may suffer, but we are never victims. We are blood-bought, hope-filled sinners.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me--Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
May we be transformed, from grace to grace, unto the image of our Savior.
