For some reason God wants me to learn about pain this week and the more I learn about it the less I feel I have truly experienced it, if ever, as an American Christian. The message in God's Word in the past couple of weeks has been consistent...pain. It almost seems coincidental, and I believe in coincidence like I believe in the easter bunny, but even the sermons I have been listening to recently have been on pain...and the subject matter wasn't even in the title...see "coincidence". Doesn't it feel like we are constantly striving for comfort, safety, security, financial stability, retirement, ect.? The more I read is His word and listen to men living out the true Christian life, the more I am not sure any of these things are biblical. If your flinch is to be defensive after that last sentence or offended, as the saying goes, you might be "that guy". Check out 1 Peter 4:12-13...

" (12)Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you (13) but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation."

I don't know about you but there is nothing vague about this verse. Sure you can try to change the meaning or argue that it was a passage/letter meant for a specific group but not for everyone...or, you can see that, if you love Jesus, you are one of the "beloved" and that "do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you" actually might mean, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you. Consider this passage and see if you can find the emphasized word (trying to be funny and not sarcastic by the way)...

James 1:2-4, "(2)Consider it all joy, my brethren, WHEN you encounter various trials (3) knowing (heres the why for the trials in the passage) that the testing of your faith produces endurance. (4)And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."

Aren't we supposed to "want" to be complete in Christ? Aren't we supposed to want to be like Christ? "Well of course", we all say BUT, don't we in the back of minds think, "but except with popularity and a big house and...oh, almost forgot, a nice sized house and a good safe education for my kids and success at my job (so I people will listen to me when I give God all the credit for my success), and, oh yeah, a gated community would be nice eventually and a nice car (doesn't have to be a ferrari though God, I am willing to give that up for Jesus) and a great retirement plan and....(I'm sort of freaked-out with how quickly I can come up with these). Do you see the spiritual logic you have to block out in order to say you want to be like Christ, just not wanting to go through anything He did? Pardon the deficient football analogy, but it would be like a pro football team saying, "we are going to be superbowl champs but we don't want to practice as hard as the superbowl team did last year, or practice as long, or frankly go through any of the pain they did to get to the big game and win it. We would just like to meet once a week, talk about practicing and working hard and then at the very end, have the commissioner of football hand us the Lombardi trophy (championship trophy for the non-football fans) and we would like him to say 'well done'..." Get it?...see how stupid that would be?! Dumb. How stupid I am to cry and moan when pain comes my way, especially after praying that Jesus make me more like Him. How about another goofy sports analogy (see how my brain works or doesn't?). How about someone who says "I want to be in the best shape of my life. I'm thinking 4% body fat and shreaded muscle! Wait...what?! You mean I have to actually work out and have to eat right?! Sweat is gross, bleeding is unsanitary and the potential for looking funny in the begining or risking injury is just too dangerous. No thanks, I'll just talk about it and then complain about when nothing changes about my body or health to the point where everyone with half a brain wants to punch me in the face for my stupidity." See Hebrews 5:8:

"Although He (Jesus) was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered,"

The obvious question is, "if Jesus had to learn obedience, how much more should we?!" So obvious it feels like a rhetorical question doesn't it? Sorta like that we shouldn't be surprised at the 'fiery ordeal among you'? So why not try this...lets try to not just hear what the bible has to say but do what the bible has to say. When the next trial comes (and lets be honest, how is my trial and your trial compare to the beloved and the brethren in countries where it is illegal to love Jesus)...like I was saying, when the next trial comes do 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18:

"Rejoice always,(17) pray without ceasing; (18) in EVERYTHING give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

My friend Francis puts it well - - 

For a real gut check, watch the entire "Is Suffering Optional?" sermon