Read: Philippians 3:7-11
That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings. (v. 10)
The greatest pain I ever felt was going through full labor with my daughter only to give birth by cesarean section in the end. I suffered through the pain twice, but in the end, my baby was born. In the end, I was blessed with joy despite the suffering, and it was worth it.
Suffering well is hard. It takes a deep conviction that God is at work. This passage illustrates that we can endure suffering if we believe the goal of our suffering is worth more than our relief. Christ confounded the powers against him. He wants us to share that strength, but if we wish to share in the power of Jesus, we must also share in his pain. When we suffer—terrible as it may be—we must bear that pain in the power of Christ. We all suffer. This is our share in Christ’s suffering, and there is an almost mystical communion we can share with Christ in that suffering.
Your fellowship with Christ amid your suffering is the fellowship of a profound empathy shared between the risen and coming Christ and his people who are still, for a time, torn by the thorns of this world. Christ has overcome sorrow, loss, fear, doubt, and hopelessness, and through his resurrection has infused your present experience of these shadows with invincible hope and intimate communion. And for those who trust him, there is a dying and a rising in every suffering situation.
As you pray, commune with Christ in his suffering and overcoming.
Ariana D. Den Bleyker is a Pittsburgh native currently residing in New York’s Hudson Valley. She is the author of two devotional poetry collections,To Be Held by the Lightand Waking in the Light. She is an ordained deacon in the Reformed Church of America.
