In the last week the scripture 2Cor. 1:5 “For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ”, has captured my attention. I began to ponder, ‘what are the sufferings of Christ today?’. During His earthly ministry he suffered many ways, physically and emotionally, but today the physical sufferings have ceased, so as I began to consider what might His sufferings be today and what does it mean to have the abundant sufferings of Christ today.

We know there are thousands living in countries where faith in Christ is considered illegal and people suffer, in some cases brutally, for Christ. Surely this is to share in the sufferings of Christ. But for those where no persecution exists, is there another application? I think there is, and I think it applies to the emotional and spiritual suffering that Christ and all of heaven suffers today as a result of sin; wars, oppression, greed, addictions, poverty and each of us can add to the list of evils that pervade our cultures. As I watched “Precious” the other night I was keenly aware that the emotions of compassion and sorrow were in this day the “sufferings of Christ”, rising up in me. Just like two thousand years ago when Jesus would rescue Israel by gathering them under His wings; and as He wept over Jerusalem, these sufferings go on in His heart today and we are to share in those sufferings. We may never be persecuted for our faith but we shall suffer for all those in the bonds of wickedness if we truly share in the sufferings of Christ.

So as 2Cor. 1:7 says that the believers in Corinth shared in Paul’s sufferings, we are today to share the sufferings of Christ, so also we are sharers of His comfort.”

To sum up, like the old hymn “In The Garden” states ---”I’d stay in the garden with Him, tho the night around me be falling; but He bids me go, thru the voice of woe, His voice to me is calling.” Yes, His voice is calling through the voice of woe, and I think this is His suffering today, and we are to share in it.

Photo by Maciej Dakowicz