Learning Suffering

Long have I been aware that suffering is an underated element to the walk with Christ.  It simply isn’t talked about much.  From my Bible readings I have for some time now come to understand that there is a holy value to be appreciated about undergoing suffering.  Somehow through suffering our identification with Christ runs deeper.  At the end of the day we get to say, “Ah, I felt something that my Lord Himself has felt.”  And the bonds between Jesus and I grow deeper, much the way a friend and I are more closely bonded after sharing a meal together.

Through this perspective, it is possible to delight in the dish of suffering, not because of the taste of the dish but because of its royal company.

All this I get.

But what has perplexed me for some time is the way that suffering seems to show up as a sort of fine print on the contract of free grace with God. “What!?  I thought Christ paid the price, I received the gift and now I get to walk in the Kingdom and expect a great home in eternity.  Now You’re saying that there’s this extra check-list of suffering that I’ve got to work through in order to actually get the keys for that home in the sky?” 

Sure, it is still a great deal, but it just doesn’t seem all that forthcoming.

Romans 8:17 certainly seems to be one of those fine print passages where it states that we are “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

But finally this morning, it all clicked.  The context of this passage is the wrestling with the evil living in our flesh.  This theme goes all the way back to chapter 7.  And in the verses right before 8:17 it talks about by the Spirit putting to death the deeds of the flesh.  No doubt about it: letting the Spirit administer chemo has got to hurt.

So the ‘contractual’ suffering here in 8:17 is the suffering from fighting sin in our bodies.  This is different from the persecution type of suffering talked about at the end of Romans 8.

But seeing clearly now the 8:17 suffering  as the suffering of sanctification, it doesn’t appear any longer as a work to be done on our part so as to get into God’s good books.  Quite differently, it is the result of the Spirit dropping nukes on the sin in my body.  And the Spirit — I definitely signed up for Him when I agreed to the cross for my salvation.  In fact, this pain the Spirit inflicts on us is nothing less than beautiful, free grace as He does the work of weeding out our sinfulness, allowing for more and more room for the glory of Christ to shine through.

Praying what we ought

“Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
Romans 8:26 (ESV)

There is a presupposition to this prayer that I had never before realized. It is important to know what to actually pray for. Moreover, it is our weakness that keeps us from praying for the right things.

Instead, I used to view a better prayer as one that is more eloquent, more earnest, more sincere.  Maybe content is more important than form.  Maybe I need to be giving more thought about praying for the right things.  Maybe I need to be praying more about praying for the right things.

So then, Father, may I know what to pray for. Teach me. And so I see, praying becomes less and less about me. Your good will be done. Amen.