Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude… 1 Peter 4:1
The stove burned my hand and my lip quivered during the span of silence before a piercing scream. As a toddler, I learned this world is a painful place. Years later, Grandmother passed away leaving a haunting gap in my heart. My career culminated in an out of control business debt that spiraled to an explosive death. The lessons of life ingrain an aversion for suffering and an affinity for comfort. Then along comes Jesus saying things like, “Lose your life” (Mat 10:39), and “Blessed are those who mourn” (Mat 5:4), and “My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9). His words are so counterintuitive that absorbing them is a deep struggle.
Peter says to “arm” ourselves with suffering. He is telling us there is something strong there, like weapons and munitions. There is ballistic power in letting go of a need to control my suffering. The preoccupation with pain avoidance no longer owns me. This is not masochism. Rather, it creates new spiritual space to live for life and its Source rather than for comfort.
I have lived comparatively free of trials. Nevertheless, I am challenged to adopt the “same attitude” as my suffering Jesus. I am not to go looking for a new boulder of misery to move into my yard. Rather, I am to take whatever stone is already there, lay the plank of dependence squarely across the top, and fulcrum my heart toward Jesus. It makes me clap and jig to see the Enemy’s worst tool forced into the service of lifting me toward the Lover of my soul.
Prayer: Lord, may no trial in life fail to move me closer to You.
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