The Bible Nerd

Ok, ok, so I thought the book series that my wife bought was a little cheesy.  It is called “Heroes for Young Readers” and it puts famous missionaries and Christian heroes of the faith lives into poems for kids.  How can you reduce an amazing person’s life into something that always rhymes in four lines?  But I had to repent, because my little kids love these books and actually know who Jim Elliot is now.  There is a stack of them in our bathroom, and now I sneak a peek at them, and have learned quite a bit myself (the shame that I am learning church history in kids’ books…).  How do I explain to my seven year old why Jim Elliot died?  He was only 28 years old and was trying to reach out to and help a tribal people in Ecuador.  He died so young because he did exactly the right thing.

Our brain just has such a hard time computing the fact that we can suffer because we are doing the RIGHT thing in this world.  It just seems wrong and not fair, that we can suffer for the very reason that we are being obedient to God and trying to be a blessing to make this world a better place.  The Bible, however, makes it clear that sometimes when we are suffering, this is exactly the case.

1 Peter is one of the best books to look at this teaching.  Peter is trying to comfort and encourage the New Testament church, which has been undergoing persecution since its beginning.  He can’t give them the false hope that everything will get better eventually, and the fact is that it is about to get much worse.  A few short years after he writes this letter, Nero goes completely crazy (rather than just mostly crazy), and begins a massive persecution of Christians.  Peter can give them the big picture and share a few pieces of wisdom.  First, Peter says in 3:17, “For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”  Lots of people in the world are suffering for doing evil; criminals are in jail, sexually immoral people have STDs, and manipulative, greedy people are lonely and depressed.  These people are not only suffering now for what they have done, they have no eternal reward to look forward to if they are not believers.  Peter reminds them that they could be suffering for no eternal purpose at all.

The second thing Peter reminds them of is in 3:18, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God”.  The reason Peter is confident that they will suffer for doing right, is that their very Lord, Jesus Christ, suffered for doing the right thing.  Jesus saw the eternal goal of bringing us back to God as worth the suffering on the cross.  Do we see our suffering as worth it?  We have to remember we suffer for an eternal prize, taking as many people to heaven with us. Stoics simply endure suffering, while ascetics welcome it.  Christians are neither.  We only suffer because God loved us, and we in turn love others so much that we are willing to give our lives for them.

Third, Peter says we should expect to suffer for doing right in 4:12, “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. ”  Sometimes, we act so surprised when Satan attacks us, and cry out to God in disbelief that He allowed that to happen.  Peter knew it was coming, and so he was spiritually and mentally prepared for battle.  Paul tried to prepare Timothy in the same way in 2 Timothy 3:12, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”  I don’t see any maybes there.

Finally, Peter gives them the ultimate hope in 5:10, “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”  This suffering will not last forever!  Peter considered this life “a little while” in comparison to living in eternity with God in peace and blessing.  Jim Elliot is with Jesus in heaven, and he will never suffer again.  This whole series on suffering has been difficult to write, and I have noticed that it has been one of my least “popular” series of posts.  I know we don’t enjoy reading about suffering.  Some people think if they are reading about suffering, it means that God is about to lead them into a time of suffering and is preparing them.  I just know it is part of life, and of course, we would all rather skip it.  Some suffer more than others, but if we are to be ministers of hope into this world, we have to know how to comfort those in pain.  Jesus was the great physician who didn’t avoid people who were suffering, He was drawn right to them.