Minority (Remnant) are to Suffer With Christ

by Michelle Amirault


So what does Paul mean when he says, "Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the church"? (Colossians 1:24) Do I really want to know this suffering side? My flesh cries-no way! I just want the love for me and I want to talk about it, you know, reason together-civil-like, no blood, no pain. It's hard enough not having many see what I see about the true nature of God. It is hard enough being rejected by most Christian brothers and sisters, having my character or reputation shot to pieces in their eyes. It is frustrating feeling I have to watch every word I speak, fearing they might misinterpret what I mean. Often I feel like a leper. Suffer more? Yuck!

That is where I am today. But where else can I go but on with my Beloved? I could not turn back. Everything else is death to me. Besides, I really do not feel so uncomfortable in this place anymore, for it is because of this God-ordained separation that He is more real to and in me. How else could He teach a once big-time people-pleaser to focus more on Him than man? How else could He begin to have a verbally active person, think before she spoke. How else could she begin to learn to weigh her words before she spoke them forth. Rejection, separation, etc., though painful at first, have and are working the "self-control" part of the fruit of His Spirit into me. How else could I learn dependence on God except to have my independence fail?

So I looked up "suffering" in our Strong's Concordance. I want to share these Scriptures with any who can identify with these thoughts I have shared. 1 Timothy 4:10 says, "For this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, Who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe." Romans 8:18 says, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us" (Read the rest of Romans Chapter 8 also. It is so beautiful and relevant.) 2 Corinthians 1:5-7 says, "For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comforter overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort." (Read verses 3-11 which are also wonderful.) Philippians 3:10-11 reads, "I want you to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead." Please also read Hebrews 2:10-18 and then Hebrews 5:8-10, Revelation 2:10, 1 Peter 4:1-2 & 13. Here is 1 Peter 5:10: "And the God of all grace Who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast." Glory to God. He will complete what He started. Amen.