Sorry for the delay. Crazy-busy!
But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.
(Heb. 10:32-34)
Suffering- it stinks. I think there's two questions that come to mind for me when I think about suffering.
1) How do I get through it?
2) Is there a way to get through it happily? If so, how?
I really like this verse as it hits on a theme I've been thinking about. Let's look at the facts.
-There were Christians in prison
-There were other Christians not in prison.
-The ones in prison had a choice- whether or not to visit those in prison, knowing that they could be persecuted.
-The outside-the-prison Christians decided to go to those in prison.
-They were persecuted ("property was plundered")
-They joyfully accepted it.
Most of these facts aren't remarkable. The two I bolded, I think, were. These guys walked into suffering and were happy when it happened. Why? "Since (they) knew they had a better possession and an abiding one."
In other words, they believed in a future reward and the more they thought about it the more it became real to them. The reality they believed in became so real that they started to view current suffering differently in light of a significant future reward.
And... we can do the same thing!
I want to think of heaven more and how we will be with Jesus forever. I want to remember that life is a vapor and that there is a city that we are going to where God himself will be our light. I can't wait to be in a place where tears are wiped away, my sin is gone, and I can see God face-to-face.
Even as I write the above, my current troubles seem much less... troubling :)
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