Listen to this blog.
Dear friends, don't be surprised or shocked that you are going through testing that is like walking through fire.
Be glad for the chance to suffer as Christ suffered. It will prepare you for even greater happiness when he makes his glorious return.
Count it a blessing when you suffer for being a Christian. This shows that God's glorious Spirit is with you.
1 Peter 4:12-14
How does suffering prepare us for happiness when Christ returns?
When people suffer together there is a bond that lasts. I think soldiers are the most notable examples of people who suffer together and establish through that suffering a relationship that lasts for a life time. But shared suffering does the same thing no matter what it is. You may be riding out a tornado in a basement with people you don't know. Surviving an airplane crash or the sinking of a cruise ship will produce relationships that last. There is a fellowship of suffering together.
When Jesus returns and He sees that you have suffered like He did and your scars look like His there will be a special level of happiness.
When Jesus decided to come to this earth and be our Savior, He chose to suffer the things that every human suffers. Jesus knows all the pain that we experience. But when we choose Jesus and take up our cross to follow Him, then we come to know what Jesus suffered. Jesus knows my suffering and He allows me the privilege of suffering like Him so I can come to know His!
What a glorious relationship! The worst thing the Devil can do to me is inflict on me pain and suffering which will only make me look more like Jesus!
Remember, looking like Jesus and being changed into His image also includes the scars!
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