For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.

Philippians 1:29

In Philippians 1:29, Paul says that we have been given TWO privileges:

First, of course, we have been given the privilege of believing in the Lord Jesus.

But we’ve also been given another privilege. We would expect that other privilege to be something like: We have been given the privilege of overcoming sin. Or, We have been given a share of his inheritance—blessings here on earth.

But instead, Paul says:

We have been given the privilege of suffering for Christ.

Paul is not the only one who says this kind of thing. Jesus said it all the time. Like when he talked to James and John and they asked him for the privilege of sitting at his left hand and his right hand. And he said, that was not his to give, but he could give the privilege of drinking from his cup—which is the cup of suffering.

See–this was not a burden he gave to them but a blessing It was a privilege.

Today, evangelists offer Christianity as a relief from suffering They sell it as a shortcut to entering into the world’s blessings and benefits without having to work for them, e.g.: Believe in Jesus and you can be rich, healthy, and popular—and you don’t have to work for any of it!

They show themselves as an example:

“See—I’m rich, healthy, and popular compared to you; if you believe in Jesus, you can be like me!”

So when they evangelize, they say things like, “Wouldn’t you like to ask Jesus into your heart?”

But that’s not how Paul and Jesus evangelize.

They say, “Enter into the death of Christ. As you enter into the death of Christ, you will have the lifetime privilege of suffering like we do.”

This confused Jesus’ disciples so much that Peter rebuked Jesus for saying it. And it confused Paul’s churches so much that they turned away from him and followed other so-called apostles.

But Jesus and Paul are very clear: They say that suffering as a result of our faith in Christ is a privilege and a gift, not a disadvantage we are forced to accept.

In order to understand why, we have to remember that suffering means being forced to endure things beyond our control and beyond power to change. When we experience these kind of things, we typically pray for the Lord to remove these!

But when we understand that the Lord is permitting these things to happen SO THAT we have the privilege of entering into his suffering, we can see that these experiences have a purpose.

Here’s the purpose:

As he removes everything we normally depend on (especially our own gifts and strengths), the only thing remaining on which we can rely is his promises.

This is the only thing Jesus had on the Cross: The promises of God.

So Paul and Jesus say to us: Suffering is a privilege because through it the Lord removes our dependence on things that are passing away, and we are left with complete dependence on his word.

In this world, that kind of dependence looks foolish. But in the world to come—which we enter through our resurrection from the dead—we will come to see that Christ did not remove from us anything of eternal value.

Instead, he gave us the only thing that is actually really valuable:

His word, through which he reveals himself fully,

His word, which never passes away.