Imagine the father crying in a hospital because his child has leukemia.
Imagine the single mom/abuse survivors working multiple jobs so she can provide for her children and keep them from harm.
Imagine the homeschooling mom who has gone without self care because she is giving her all to her babies.
All these examples and more were my immediate thought when I saw this particular meme.
Oh, man. Triggered.
Christians, we are human and we are allowed to suffer. That age old quote: the only things certain in life are death and taxes. For Christians, we must add something: suffering.
Suffering takes multiple forms. There is suffering for our faith, suffering due to the consequences of sin, and suffering due to living in a broken world. Suffering is the one thing the Bible guarantees. “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.” – Philippians 1:29
Perhaps this is why C.S. Lewis said that “if you want a religion to make you really feel comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”
Even the Psalmist David was very clear in writing about his sufferings:
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
Psalm 13:1-2
This isn’t just a bad day type of suffering. This is a crushing sorrow that weighs his spirit and lasts all day and seems without end. Of course, David had no Cross to compare his suffering to, but is that what Christians are called to when we go through trials? Or would Christians be good witnesses in sharing such a meme with the Davids of this world? Not according to the Bible.
First, because we share in Christ’s sufferings!
“For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” 2 Corinthians 1:5
Seriously, just wow! Consider how no other religion gives us a servant leader who invites us to share in his sufferings nor has one that believers can look to when suffering comes. But not because we should seek to compare.
Christians, the Cross is not a measuring stick. We do not use it as a compare and contrast in which we view our own sufferings, daily or otherwise, as a level 1 or 2 compared to His level 10. (Especially when Jesus suffering was more like the number infinity, just saying). Nowhere is this inaccurate view preached in the Bible. For one, it sinks people into the weight of isolation, shame, and negates the brokenness of our world as well as the spiritual warfare around us. For another, it also implies that our suffering is meaningless. It implies that we are not permitted to be human and to groan over the state of our sin, our broken world, and the trials that come.
However, the Bible does discuss comparisons regarding our suffering.
Consider this verse: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Romans 8:18
Paul does not say our sufferings are not worth “comparing to what Jesus suffered”. No, they cannot be compared “to the glory that is to be revealed to us”. 2nd Corinthians 4 actually says “an eternal weight of glory”.
What a wonderful God that does not use the unfathomable suffering of Jesus Christ against us as if it’s some ruler a teacher whacks our head with.
Instead, the Cross is more like an arrow pointing us back to Jesus. And not only Jesus but also God, the Father: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” – 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Wow! That’s a lot of comfort! I love how our sufferings not only point us back to the ultimate Comforter but also to how we can learn to comfort others. I also love how the Holy Spirit isn’t left out of the equation. “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness…the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” Romans 8:26
Does the meme above portray Christ as a Comforter or as a Comparer?
Finally, denying our sufferings, belittling them, or ignoring them removes the profound meaning they can have and our ability to understand how they shape our character. “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” – Romans 5:3-4
You don’t have to go to seminary to know what a loving God we serve and one who served us by walking and suffering among us, then offered up himself on the Cross to the greatest suffering ever. But not so we could trivialize the sufferings of this world but so we could bring them to the Three in One who empathize, groan, and comfort us every single time.