The Suffering of Christ

from Ben's mom

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings becoming like him in his death...." (Phil. 3:10 NIV)

As Lent comes to an end and we walk through the events of Holy Week, I keep coming back to this verse. Early in Lent, I heard a convicting sermon on suffering and resurrection. It seems without death, there can be no resurrection. Yikes!

I really don't like suffering. In fact, I am ashamed of the number of times this Lent that I looked for ways around my Lenten commitments. And in my regular life, I am a huge complainer when things don't go along smoothly. When someone takes advantage of me, when my bank account does not allow for luxuries, when my health takes a nose dive and I can't seem to get it back on track. I whine, I cry out to God, I beg and plead for Him to be my genie god and make it all go away.

And so I come to what I've learned this Lenten season. I have not always been faithful. But I have found God reminding me that "in this life you will have trouble." I found myself in that place where I finally told God I would love Him, serve Him, and this one was tough, rejoice, even if things don't go my way. Even if I have to suffer.

Now, don't think that I go to this lightly. It has been brought to fruition by reading about real suffering--the agony of those who lost loved ones in the tsunami, the horror of losing a child to violent crime, and the bereftness of losing most of the people you know to poverty and AIDS. That is suffering and I have hardly participated in it in any real fashion.

I still don't like the call to participate in Christ's suffering. And I realize I really haven't on any real level. But as I am thrust into the events of Holy Week, I know that God will never leave me to suffer on my own. He is near, and I have a resurrection to look forward to.