Gladly Suffering

 “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”

(Colossians 1:24-29 ESV)

We are not fond of suffering. In fact, we avoid it at all costs. We like to remain at ease. We like to enjoy a peaceful life.

For this reason, we do all that we can to avoid it. We do so even if it means compromising our faith. We do so even if it means ignoring the needs of those who surround us.

We’re not generally willing to endure suffering for the sake of others. We’re not willing to endure hardship that someone else might be blessed. If helping someone, if blessing someone, is going to bring discomfort upon us in any way, we typically refuse.

Being perfectly honest about it, it’s not even suffering that we refuse. We shy away from any discomfort whatsoever. If it means giving up some of our recreation to help another, if it means doing something that we don’t typically enjoy, if it means sacrificing some of our expendable income, or if it simply means work for us, we tend to decline.

However, looking at the above passage, we see that the apostle Paul endured suffering for the sake of the Colossians. And he did so not for them only. He did so for the sake of the Gentiles.  He did so for the sake of the lost.

This is what we see in the above passage. He states clearly that he suffered for the sake of the Colossians. He states clearly that he suffered on behalf of the church.

And not that our suffering can ever compare to that of Christ, he does draw a parallel between his own suffering for the church and that of Jesus. He says that he is filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body. He says that he completes the things lacking of the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body.

As Jesus suffered for his church, so too did Paul. As Jesus laid down his life for the church, so too did Paul. He endured them because of the stewardship of God that had been entrusted to him. He did so that the Word of God might be made fully known. He did so that the gospel might be known among the Gentiles.

And not only did he suffer. He rejoiced in his sufferings. It brought him joy to do so.

As believers in Jesus, this ought to be our attitude as well. We should not only be willing to suffer for our fellow believers. We should not only be willing to suffer for the sake of the gospel. We should rejoice in it.

We should do so because of the stewardship of God that's been entrusted to us. We should do so that the gospel might be fully known. We should do so that we might make disciples of all nations.

My hope and prayer is that this will be true of me and also of you. I pray that, as the body of Christ, we would be more than happy to suffer for the sake of our brothers and sisters in Christ. And I pray that we’d be more than happy to suffer for the sake of the lost.