A Jesus Suffering Starved Generation

The main topic of a lot of my Jesus encounters this week has been suffering. Sounds grim right? Wrong, my friend, wrong. Philippians 1:29 says, "For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him." In this verse it is talking about two gifts: that of belief in God and  suffering for God. I want to focus on the suffering. I mean how does that make sense? How is suffering a gift? It was discussed in my worldviews class on how suffering was good for the believer. There were four main reasons:
o   Gives us a level playing field
o   Shows us there is something wrong with the world
o   Proves suffering is overcome by the one who suffered for us
o   The means by which God communicates


I honestly believe the concept of suffering is why our generation spits so many young Christians out into the college world and a year later is left with a faithless student. We haven't connected with God on the level of His suffering. Our generation can grasp the idea of belief in God. It's not always easy to maintain our morals, but we still believe. But from that belief do we have the overflow of passion for God that is enough for us to step out of our comfort zone and tell someone about our life-saving eternal love? Or are we too afraid of what others may think, may say, or whether or not they might reject us to share his love, to suffer? Our generation is a Jesus-suffering starved generation!

How small a suffering of mocking is compared to standing up and being beaten or killed for Christ. Yet even something as small as mocking can strengthen us. It gives us a sense of relevancy, of purpose, of knowing we are standing up for what is right and true even if there is a cost. Our generation has forgotten it can be bold, it has forgotten what truly matters! Its not your's or mine's social standing, it's going out and risking it all, even if we only see one person change.


I didn't write this to lecture people on standing up for Christ. I wrote this to remind us why suffering is a gift and why it is so necessary in our relationship with Him. We need to remind our generation that following God is hard and involves taking risks and once you do you are connected with God on such a deeper level. And it is that level that keeps us connected to him, not sucking a Sunday morning sermon dry to feed our beliefs. I haven't been suffering, or allowing my self to be put out there, nearly enough lately or ever. The question is have you?

"Someone asked, will the heathen who have never heard the Gospel be saved? It is more a question with me whether we -- who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not -- can be saved." -- Charles Spurgeon