Please make sure to read and comply with our Copyright Statement if you plan on using these devotionals for any type of publication (including websites).

SUFFERING WITH CHRIST

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don't give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going. Through suffering, these bodies of ours constantly share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. – 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 (NLT)

            The search for identity with Christ is a pursuit well worth undertaking. Through prayer, Bible reading, meditation, and other Christian disciplines we seek to know Christ in a more intimate way. Paul speaks of a process leading to identity that most of us have no desire for – it is finding Christ in the community of suffering. It is not something we are encouraged to pursue, but when it comes into our life, it can be used to draw us closer to the Christ we worship.

            The Christian martyrs down through the centuries are a historical testimony to the reality of identifying with Christ in this way. Their physical pain allowed them to appreciate and at some level, participate, in what Christ suffered through the Cross Event. Our suffering, whether life-threatening or a minor affliction, can lead us to identify in the same way. No matter what we face, we are strengthened by a shared suffering with Christ.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Father, I do not choose suffering, but when affliction comes, I will suffer with Jesus.