Living With Open Eyes: The Upside of Suffering

Monday, September 16, 2013

The Upside of Suffering

And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight--if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church. Colossians 1:21-24

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In 1997 our family went through a period of time when, because of the near 100% humidity in the Ivory Coast (where we lived and worked among the Liberian war refugees), we just could not get rid of an Egypt-like plague of boils. Worst hit was baby Jared, who at one point had not only many small boils but also a monstrous boil that looked like a bullseye in the middle on his forehead. The Liberian women would stare at it wondering, I had no doubt, what kind of mother I must be that my baby had skin that looked so awful!

Heidi and Jared -1996

While in retrospect I find this a bit humorous, the truth is that there have been times in our mission career where we have truly suffered because of God's call on our lives. Before God really had my heart, I resented that suffering, feeling that if God were truly good and if He really loved me, He would not ask it. However, I stumbled upon a verse that mesmerized me and totally changed my perspective about suffering.

According to Colossians 1:14, not only does God allow His servants to suffer, He allows it for an almost unbelievable purpose—to complete the suffering of Christ. Or, as it says in the NKJV, to "fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ."

I cannot begin to explain what that means and I can only take God at His word that it is so. But, according to scripture, when I suffer because of obedience to God's call on my life, the suffering is both with Him and for Him.

And this is not a "missionary thing." Every single Christian is called of God to a life of obedience and that obedience will come with a cost. Perhaps in reaction to those people who call putting up with a broken fingernail "suffering," many Western Christians tend to underplay or deny almost any personal suffering—no matter how real. But biblically this is unhelpful. While no one wants to suffer or should seeks it just for suffering's sake, it is hugely encouraging in the face of suffering to know that, if it is because of obedience to God, it fills "up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ."

And suffering could not possibly be more purposeful than that.