For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God (1 Peter 2:19)

I recall when I was a little tyke trying on my father’s shoes and attempting to walk around the house. It was nearly impossible. I thought I would look grown up and sophisticated, but actually I looked very comical.

It must be something like that when our egos prompt us to “play God” in the lives of people around us. Our wisdom is limited and our judgment impaired by personal prejudices. When we are trying to imitate or speak for God, we don’t realize all that it involves. Among the things we tend to miss is the fact that it involves a strange and different attitude toward suffering.

Most people accept suffering either with resignation or resentment. The animals around us live, they suffer and they die. None of them whine about it or spends hundreds of dollars on therapists. Peter tells us that we are called to suffering for the cause of Christ and that it is commendable. The way some people view their Christian walk, one would think that the scriptures promised us heaven on earth and they do not. Not only does the Bible never make such a promise, it explicitly tells us that we will suffer.

Yet our suffering is redemptive in nature, because in it we continue the legacy of Jesus Christ and in some mysterious way make a personal connection with Him. If Jesus, the only perfect person ever to walk this earth, suffered, why should we think we will be immune? Isn’t it amazing how often Jesus turned His own suffering into something good and beneficial for humankind? We can do that, too. We have His promise on it.

Holy Creator, strengthen us to face the world around us with the strength and trust that Your Son showed us!