Suffering

I have been struggling with the concept of suffering. How does it relate to the Christian lifestyle? How is it that I suffer, if I do suffer? Is it something physical or is it a "spiritual" suffering? (I don't like talking about the separation of physical and spiritual for fear of falling into some sort of Gnostic dualsim). How does my suffering relate to God and his suffering?

I'm not really sure where to go with this post. To be honest, I don't think that biblical suffering has much to do with a certain person that you don't get a long with or having a broken leg for 6 weeks. I am hoping that the two people who read it will comment with their thoughts. The prophets talked of a suffering Messiah, the One who must come, suffer, and die. Jesus talks about how the Son of Man must suffer to be lifted up. We are to follow Christ and his way. Are we not to assume that suffering will follow? And if it doesn't, am I truly following Christ? Phillipians talks of our imitation of Jesus, who lowered himself to be like us (which if you're God than becoming human is pretty incomprehensible). Upon lowering himself, he then went through ridicule, torture, resentment, and death. And we're to imitate that? Then there are Jesus' words spoken in John: (paraphrased) The World hates you. But it isn't a surprise because the world has hated me first. I am your master. If you truly follow me you will be persecuted as I am persecuted. You will be able to bear it though because I'm giving you a counselor. He will guide you into all truth and you will testify to the salvation and wholeness that I have brought to the world.

So, I am now living pretty comfortably. I live in a pagan nation but they don't care how I live as long as I don't frustrate their ends (which I think as Christians we sometimes need to frustrate). I haven't been thrown in jail (like Martin Luther King, Jr.) and I haven't been tortured (like the Korean missionaries taken hostage by the Taliban). How is it that I am following Jesus? Should suffering be something that we seek, or if we truly follow the way of the Master, is it something that comes? Are we willing to deal with the life of a true Christian?

God suffers. He has to suffer. We not only realize the divine suffering in Jesus but we see his anguish throughout history. Grief, sorrow, and anger are outpourings of His love. Can we truly love without suffering? Jeremiah saw God's heart and wept. Jesus wept over Jerusalem before its destruction longing for the people he loved. Grief gives way to suffering which is a result of love. Paul writes about us being heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. If God truly suffers because of our brokenness and separation, should we not also suffer by grieving with that same compassionate heart? I would suspect that this type of suffering would work at bringing us to solidarity with the poor, downtrodden, and oppressed people of the world. When I read the gospel account of Jesus, I see his heart associated with this group of people.

These are just simple musings that I've been thinking. Hopefully they will lead to some sort of contemplation, and perhaps some action.