The Ministry of Suffering

There is no disharmony in the things of God. There may be seeming contradictions to the finite mind, and some things "hard to understand," and we may not be able to see how we can have joy in the midst of suffering or peace with the turmoil of war all around us. But God has so arranged it that there can be an unbroken peace and a deep joy in the midst of severe suffering.

There is a suffering—not of the physical or mental—that as God's children we ought to know more about than we do, a "suffering with Jesus," an agony of soul that comes upon us when we see some things as Jesus saw them: the sinfulness of sin, the coldness and unfaithfulness of the Church, and the great tenderness and love of God for a lost world. The reason why the Church has not a more solid, stalwart character is that it is not suffering.

Joy and rapture are the expression of character; but suffering is the condition out of which character is built. Human suffering makes human character, but suffering with Jesus makes Divine character. Jesus has called us to this fellowship of suffering with Him, and has left us the promise, that if "we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him."

Oh, brother, the throne is worth the suffering.

R. P., The Nazarene Messenger, May 14, 1908

Used with permission from Nazarene Archives for devotions with Holiness Today. 

Please note: This article was originally published in 1908. All facts, figures, and titles were accurate to the best of our knowledge at that time but may have since changed.