Realization #003: Is Suffering Optional?

Friends, family, classmates, blog mates. Hello once again!

I heard many teachers of the Bible nowadays promising each and every believing Christian that life will all go well... prosperous and happy. You see, I realized this in my life, being a Christian, happiness is temporary, but God told me to be joyful because being joyful doesn't say of today but the outcome of tomorrow. What I have experienced in the past years isn't like that now, it is a life rougher than ever before, but I am glad and joyful that my soul is secure. And no matter how mysterious life may be, the promise of Jeremiah 29:11 still shines far greater than any threat that lies on the road I am now.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Upon my walk, I also see a lot of Christians who are still afraid, crawling out from their shell. They are afraid of finding who they really are because of what form of suffering may lie ahead. Some of them may not know it but still they suffer, they suffer from accepting who they really are and the rejection that lies ahead. Friends, I don't see myself prep enough to encourage you, but indeed, as the Bible tells us that suffering is not an optional thing. It comes standard in our life.

Why is suffering good? Yes, I said that, good. Suffering refines us, defines us; just like a precious gold being refined by fire.

1 Peter 1:7
These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

SUFFERING EXIST EVERYWHERE
On Mountain Biking

You won't gain if you don't endure! That's not science fiction, it is a tested fact by each and everyone of us.

At School
Tests, tests, tests... there is always a downside for a greater gain. That is to immerse on studying and reading 4 inch thick books. But what do we get afterwards? Unimaginable bliss.

I see suffering as temporary, after this, you will soon forget about it and might just laugh in the end. A guy from BoMb said and I quote;

"Embrace the suck," I said. It's one of my mottos. "It's going to suck, you know it is. You might as well embrace it because you can't avoid it. False motivation is better than no motivation at all. So, tell yourself it's going to be fun and treat it as fun... and in two days, it'll be over and you might just find yourself smiling after all!"

It is the same with being a Christian. Sometimes, it's going to be bad (it's going to suck). We can't change that. What we can change is our attitude during those times. Embrace the suck. It's going to come, regardless.

In addition to his contribution to the blog, I say, suffering is not an option, we have to face it regardless, but we have to make sure when we suffer, in the end we praise God!

1 Corinthians 4:11-13
"To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things."

*Oist, I am not in a preaching mode ha!