“For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.” 1 Peter 3:17
This is something a lot of Christians have a problem coping with, suffering is good. Most people and a lot of Christians don’t understand why believers are not always profitable. Well the truth of the matter is that they do, but the rewards are not always in this world. The scriptures are very clear that Christians and even the best of Christians suffer in this world. People fail to remember that Christ suffered in this flesh and not just in His death but His entire earthly life was full of sorrow. Isaiah 53:3 "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." Christ was not sent to profit in this world but rather to suffer shame for our shame. Matthew 8:20 "And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." Jesus Christ came from riches to rags in order to suffer His entire life for us. He never had peace; they were searching for Him even at His birth. Believers, let us not be dismayed when life on this earth seems difficult and hard. God never promised us earthly riches nor did He promise profit at all in this world. It is because our rewards are set up in glory and not this world. Christians are also people of sorrow in this life, but be assured that while we suffer like Christ in this world; we will also glory with Him in eternity. 2 Timothy 2:12 "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him..." We will have only soul and spirit when we die and when the rapture come we shall have a glorified body to be a tri-fold once again. Believer there is only one more thing we will carry into heaven from this earth, and that will be the worthy works we have done for the Lord during our earthy stay. We will carry no other treasures from this earth. Our rewards are built in heaven and in heaven we will receive them. Matthew 6:19 - 21 "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: (20.) But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: (21.) For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." If you are a Christian and it seems like your troubles are as bad as or even worse than that of a lost person, that’s ok God said it would be. Matthew 5:45 "That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." Now, what if we suffer for righteous sake, why if we suffer for doing right? Well, the Lord said it is better, that’s right it is better to suffer for doing the right thing. Jesus Christ suffered unjustly, that’s right Pilate said of Christ in Luke 23:4 "Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man." But He still was crucified. We do not know God’s blessed will for us, unless God manifest it to us; however it is God’s will for us to suffer in this life, even for doing right. God has a purpose for everything, and we would be well served as Christians to worry less about our suffering and more about serving God. God blesses us believers every second of everyday, we just most of the time do not know how his blessing are coming. Beloved, it is better to suffer than to have riches in this world, if it is for the Lord. We all need to be more like John and Peter. Acts 5:41 "And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name." They counted it joy that they worthy to suffer for the Lord. I pray to God that I too am worthy to suffer for the Lord.
