Introduction

Many believers suffer not for the sin they commit or for the devil’s attack on them. They suffer untold hardship or even hunger. They even suffer without being able to tell their closest friends. They wonder why the demands of purpose and destiny lead them to the part they are in. This article explores the reason behind the suffering…

The Spirit of Adoption

The Spirit of adoption bears witness along with our spirit that we are Children of God. It is this assurance and confidence that gives us a standing before God. It assures us that we are children of God – an understanding and a practical knowing of Abba Father.

Because we have this Spirit of adoption, we have been made children of God;

Now, if we have been made children of God, then we are heirs of God;

If we are heirs then, we are joint heirs with Christ (because He was made the firstborn amongst many brethren);

It follows that if we are joint heirs with Him (Christ), we shall suffer with Him;

Therefore, if we suffer with Him, we surely will be glorified with Him.

The Process

From the above, we can deduce that the same process that Christ Jesus went through, we will also go through. The life we now live is no longer ours, but we live in Christ and He lives in us. His life and living on the earth is a model of how ours would also follow.

Although methods may differ, just as time also differs, the principle never changes. It remains the same.

The Spirit of Adoption makes us one with Jesus, thus the process the self-same Spirit took Him through is what we should expect. Jesus Himself said that if these can be done to the master of the house, how much more we?

The writer of Hebrews confesses in the eighth verse of the fifth chapter that the process God laid out for Jesus was that He should learn obedience by the things that he suffered. And verse nine goes on to say that after He had mastered his lesson, He was glorified. The same principle remains the same!

We learn by the things we suffer and what we have learned is what reveals the glory in us.

The Suffering

For Jesus, He suffered 4 things:

1. He was made of no reputation (Even though He was equal with God)
2. He took the form of a servant (Even though He was the creator and master of all)
3. He took on the likeness of men (Even though He was God Himself)
4. He humbled Himself (Even though He has every reason to be proud)

What Jesus needed to learn, scripture reveals, was obedience. He had to learn this despite being a son. A question necessarily follows, obedience to what?

In the second chapter of Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians and the eighth verse, it is recorded that He became OBEDIENT UNTO DEATH – even the death of the cross. The death of the cross was the will of the Father for Him. It therefore follows that He learned obedience to the will of the Father for Him.

Even though it was hard and difficult for Him and at some point, He felt overwhelmed and did not wish to proceed but as the scriptures say, He BECAME OBEDIENT. The suffering He went through made Him become something. What He became because of that process led to His glorification.

Likewise Us…

In the same vein, many suffer today (not the suffering of evil deeds done) because there are lessons to be learnt and something that they must become from the suffering (read as learning). That learning is what produces the glory.

For Jesus, He learnt obedience to the will of the Father. For every believer going through a learning process (of which every believer actually is, if they pay attention), we must find out what that learning must produce in us.

Our suffering would not be fulfilling and effective if we do not know what lessons must be learnt and then go ahead to learn them. The Spirit of Adoption had made us one with Jesus and so, the things He went through, we surely will go through because the ‘servant is not greater than his master.’

Conclusion

Now, the suffering which we suffer can in no way be compared to the glory that God intends will be revealed in us. The suffering does not have enough sufficiency in itself to be compared with the coming glory.

As joint heirs with Christ, we suffer with Him and we are also glorified together with Him, so that as He is glorified, we too, are glorified in Him and with Him.