A Small Suffering

Can we make it through life without suffering?

Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God's will, than to suffer for doing evil. For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him. - 1 Peter 3:13-22

Peter watched Jesus suffer persecution by Herod, and he avoided suffering a similar fate by denying that he knew Jesus when accused of being a follower.

He took the easy way out at the time, but in the long run, it caused him great suffering.

First, he suffered guilt, and Jesus put it before him asking Peter if he loved Jesus, three times!

Suffering doesn't have to be physical to be real, and yet, in the end, Peter suffered a painful death as well, choosing to be crucified upside down, believing he did not deserve to die the same way as Jesus.

So, you could say that suffering is relative, as well as being for a cause.

Knowing that one is suffering for good is better than suffering for doing something evil.

But in either case, suffering can bring about change.

In Peter's case, a small degree of suffering through guilt brought him around to lead the church.

What could it do for us?

More to come...