This month, our meditation has been excerpted from the book entitled Extreme Devotion, compiled by Voice Of the Martyrs. In the following passage, the account of a father and young daughter in China provides us with fodder for reflection and perhaps application:
Consider it pure joy, my brothers [and sisters], whenever you face trials of many kinds. (James 1:2)
"I want to talk to you about an unusual gift," said the Chinese father to his beautiful, black-haired daughter. She smiled with anticipation. She loved it when her wise father shared special lessons about God. He loved Christ, and everyone who knew him was touched with his kindness and compassion.
He opened a worn Bible and began, "This gift is found in Philippians 1:29. It says, 'For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for Him.' Something that is given to us is a 'gift'. The two gifts in the verse are belief and suffering. Suffering that results from our belief in God is a precious gift, that value of which will be fully realized only in heaven."
The daughter smiled. "Thank you, Papa," she said as she reached up to hug him. "I understand."
The young girl grew up to be the wife of Pastor Li Dexian, who has been arrested over ten times and nearly beaten to death for his faith. She carries on the work with him, persevering because she learned at a young age that godly suffering is a gift. Pastor Li and his wife have won countless souls to Christ in Communist China, and they continue to work under a constant threat of arrest.
FURTHER: The gifts of belief and suffering are a packaged deal. Not only are they impossible to separate, but each gift also strengthens the other. If we have been given the gift of belief in Christ, we will follow Christ. Following Christ means taking risks, going against popular trends, being misunderstood, and even enduring physical and emotional pain. Belief often leads to suffering. As we experience the same kinds of suffering that Jesus lived, we come to know Him in a richer and deeper way. The cycle begins again because suffering strengthens our belief. Don't expect to be able to filter suffering out of your life without reducing your belief in Christ.
A moment of consideration: In this writing, we start on the bases not only of the apostle James' well-known encouragement to consider it pure joy when trials accost us but also acknowledge the apostle Peter's admonition: "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you." (1 Peter 4:12) It is as if James and Peter wrote to us to expect opposition to us as believers (just as Christ Himself did in John 15:20-25) and to consider it a joyful or blessed occurrence (Matthew 5:11-12; John 16:33). Elsewhere, Dumitru Bacu (Romanian Christian) described for us the blessedness of the gift of scars for Christ's sake. We have noted that persecution is normal; suffering for the faith has been promised by our Lord, as a means to test our faith. (James 1:12) Joseph Ton, noted Romanian Christian, had said that "Suffering is a favor that is to be shared with the whole of Christ's Church." The Chinese Christian and several Romanian Christians, then, have separately but with one spirit asked that we consider that "the two gifts described in Philippians 1:29 are Belief and Suffering. Suffering that results from our belief in God is a precious gift, the value of which will be fully realized only in heaven." Shall we receive this gift, these blessed scars, this favor from God Himself?
In the current account of a Chinese father and young daughter, the daughter replied that she understood, as she hugged her father. While the suffering church, worldwide, agrees and says the truth is painful, and sadly clear; some Believers struggle with accepting this gift, as they struggle with understanding the value of suffering for the Lord. Others, such as the American church goers tend to ignore the gift, in the deceptive belief that such oppression will never "come to us"; that the "good life" will continue for them. But persecution was shown to be coming, in 2008, and present in America by 2020, at the latest. So, it is here, and it is hard to escape its presence.
Suffering as a Christian, for the sake of the Kingdom, has never been fashionable or societally "correct". It doesn't fit well with our presuppositions about how life "should be". This is true for Christians worldwide, but governments, military factions, terrorists, marauding stock herders, drug cartels, and more rend normalcy from their grasp. In America,
J.C. Penney, the great merchant, was once asked, "What were the two greatest motivators in his life?" Without hesitation he said, "I can tell you in four words: Jesus Christ and adversity." He went on to explain that adversity taught him never to give up, always start over again, keep his faith strong, and realize that adversity makes a person strong.
He understood the apostle Paul's writing: "But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh." (2 Corinthians 4:7–11).
The gifts of belief and suffering are a packaged deal, inseparable (considering Christ's call to take up our cross daily and follow Him - Luke 9:23). Around the world, baptism is a most dangerous activity; Christian weddings are joyful but targeted at times by persecutors; church worship services exalt our Christ but are attacked; family gatherings are subject to raids by belligerent attackers; Christian schools are raided by combative opposers; Christian family farms are wrested from their owners by those who are set against Christianity; Christian burials are denied in villages; the sanctity of Christian homes is invaded by those brandishing weapons; Christian fishing boats are required to remove Christian symbols on the boats, etc.
Belief and suffering do go together. Christ said, "A servant is not greater than his master." (John 15:20) If our way leads us to suffering, we don’t know why stuff like this happens, but it does. And you can't really do anything to change that. You can change how you react to it, but you can't change the past. And you need to remember that God is always in control. It would do us well to understand the testing of our faith is something that helps us grow. We do not grow spiritually when the way is easy and life is problem-free. It is when we suffer pain, and understand its role in our sanctification, that we too may "...rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:3-5)
Suffering: it has been given to us. This is the contribution of Paul in his letter to the church at Philippi. A gift is something to be treasured; this gift is a beatific favor or present to us, His Church. God's Word helps us to gratefully and graciously accept Suffering with Joy (Hinds Feet on High Places character) as our lot in life, if called to do so. Each book within the Scriptures asks us to change our thinking; to understand what the world does not, and to humbly receive the boon offered for our good. Faith is a gift; Christ's abiding presence with us is a gift; forgiveness and redemption are gifts from our Lord; and eternal life with Christ in heaven is a gift; and belief and suffering likewise are gifts from our Savior and Friend. May we each take some time and come to comprehend the nature and purpose of suffering, as the Bible presents them. And may we also say, as the young Chinese girl responded, "Thank you, Papa, Father. We understand."