Suffering. Trials. Testing.
These three terms seem to often be
lumped together. They are all different and are talked about differently in the
Bible.
Trials
In the Book of James trials and
temptations are defined by the same word and are lumped together in chapter
one.
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted from God; for God is incapable of being tempted by [what is] evil and He Himself tempts no one. (James 1:13 AMP)
Let's be clear, God will not put you in a situation that is contrary to His promises or in a situation that will cause you to question Him. I know this is hard to swallow. We have our own free will that get's us in trouble. When God rescues us or heals us or draws us close to him, we often pair the situation and the outcome together. That is wrong. We made the situation but God made something out of the mess.
Testing
The devil will test our faith in an
attacking way. The devil is seeking to destroy our faith. If you look through
the Gospels you will see many times where it says, "Jesus said this only
to test them." Notice that Jesus didn't make anybody poor to test them. He
didn't make anybody sick to test them. He simply would make a
statement or ask a question prodding at their hearts and minds to see if they
were believing. He wasn't trying to break their faith but rather encourage it.
We know this because after he would test them, he would often perform a miracle
like healing the sick, multiplying food, or literally calming a storm. Jesus
never caused these things and as the mediator of the New Covenant between us
and Him he still will not cause these things because "Jesus is the same
yesterday, today, and forever."
Suffering
Here is where things get interesting.
Let me say this right now (if it already isn't clear), suffering for Christ IS
NOT being sick and/or poor. It is not something God is putting you through so
that you can be close to Him. You can be close to Him because of His grace and
the fact that He has completely killed your sin past, present, and
future.
29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, 30 since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have. (Philippians 1:29-30 NIV) -(Notice that the suffering is in conjunction for believing in Him.)
We also cannot project our first world problems (I am assuming who my audience is) as suffering for Christ either. We have to look at scripture to really see. If you look at the above verse we see that along with the belief in Christ there is also suffering. But what is it? We must also notice that Paul (the writer) is specifically talking about the struggle that he had. What was that struggle?
Imagine if you lived in a culture
that was obsessed with God. A culture that was obsessed with knowing God, with
pleasing God. A culture that says that you must live a perfect life in order to
see Heaven. A culture that says your actions are constantly being judged.
Now imagine if all of that changed.
You received a message that says you are saved by Grace and it is faith in God
that matters. You are no longer judged by your works but by what another
(Jesus) did for you.
Imagine if you started preaching this to the community you were once part of.
This is what happened. Paul (and people like him) were hated and hunted. People wanted to destroy the churches throughout the world. Many of the leaders were murdered. Their lives and families were destroyed.
That is suffering for Christ. Are you ashamed to say that
there is nothing that you can do to earn your way to Heaven? That is the
Gospel. With it comes persecution and that is what it truly is to suffer for
Christ.
