Unfortunately, many Christians see suffering as a sign that they're out of God's will—that something is wrong. But because we live in a ‘fallen’ world, we suffer. (That’s not to say that we don’t bring suffering on ourselves by our own bad choices.) But Paul gives us this principle of correlation: “All those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12).
Not understanding this, many Christians try to avoid anything that causes them discomfort, even when it could be that God wants them to endure some distress for His sake. It would seem that God is more concerned with our eternal rewards than we are. “If we suffer with Him we will reign with Him;” and to do that, we have “need of endurance” (2 Tim. 4:7; Heb. 10:36).
Now you will probably never be thrown to the lions for your faith or have your head chopped off and put on a platter, but you may be ridiculed by unbelievers. Or, surprisingly, because of your single-mindedness, you may even be misunderstood and maligned by less ardent Christians. But one thing is sure: if you seek to live a godly life, you will become familiar with suffering.
Nevertheless, when you endure, you will share in the same glorious reward as Daniel or John the Baptist or Paul. The Bible assures us that our present sufferings are “producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:17).
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