A Healthy Bad Taste

07.25.12

1 Peter 4.1-2 1Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2  so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. NASB

Peter is calling our attention to the fact that Jesus Christ suffered because of His righteousness; men could not stand His lifestyle, or His words. His lifestyle was simply this: to live for God in all things. His words were: There is a God and you are not Him. Because there is a God and you are not Him, you need to know Him, love Him, and worship Him. Whoever does this is going to suffer. Why? Because mankind doesn’t like God.

To Jesus, there was no other way to live. Jesus understood what true relationship to God was and He was going to live only in that relationship – fully knowing it would cost Him His life in doing so. He put up with suffering not as a burden but as the air He breathed and the food He ate in order to have relationship with the Father.

Suffering is the natural outcome of faith. Faith in God in this world is the catalyst for suffering. And, I don’t mean suffering like sickness, disability, or poor health – everybody has some measure of those from time to time. No, suffering is suffering at the hands of men: slander, ridicule, hatred, animosity, persecution; these are the things that keep many from committing to God. And the reason there is suffering is that men retaliate against those who will not do as they do.

Living with suffering is like breathing under water – to us that is impossible, but to the citizens of Heaven it is like becoming a fish out of water – and surviving. The culture of Heaven is abominable to men, but It is every day to the children of God. It is the reason the Church exists.

Suffering on earth puts a healthy bad taste in the saint’s mouth; we won’t cling to or prefer what tastes bad. Suffering is the separator of love for heaven and love for the world. Suffering is marvelous and merciful in that it keeps us from missing the right path to all that Heaven is and all who populate its borders.

Suffering reminds us of all that is wrong with the system of the world and the language that is spoken here: lies. And suffering for Christ removes the dross from our lives that we may be pure for God. It is no wonder Peter said, he who suffers in the flesh has ceased from sin. Suffering helps us to focus on other things besides selfish and worldly pleasures. Suffering helps us to see what is truly important and worth fighting for.

And suffering builds our faith and purifies our vision of God. Jesus trusted the Father and His plan; no less is required of God’s children. Today we are to embrace suffering not in a warped and twisted manner like those who love pain, but in the way that those will do what it takes to receive the promise they’ve been given. As we live as a Resistance Force on earth, we will be slandered, ridiculed, hated – it’s all part and parcel of who we are, and what we stand for. But it builds into us such a life that if we’ll really believe it, then one day we’ll really receive it. It is worth waiting for. It’s worth suffering for…