A difficult truth

“(29) For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, (30) engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.”
- Philippians 1:29-30

Read the underlined words.  This is the point Paul is making.  It has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should suffer. Honestly, who talks like that?  I can’t think of anyone who would say it has been granted to them to suffer.  This verb denotes that it is graciously been given to us as believers that we would suffer.
Did you hear that?
Suffering is something that is granted to us!  Who thinks that way?  Further, notice it is not suffering with no purpose.  It is suffering “for the sake of Christ”.  When we suffer, as believers, for the sake of Christ, this is something granted to us by God.
Who thinks that way today?
What is our normal first reaction when we suffer?
Is it questioning God why He has allowed this to happen to us?  Or is it thanking God that He has granted this to happen to us?

I desperately need to keep a God-centered perspective.

Suffering happens to us to remind us that this world is NOT our home.  The same letter says in Philippians 3:20,
“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ”

Heaven is the place where there is no more suffering, not here.
While we are here, as believers, we are to WILLINGLY LAY DOWN OUR LIVES FOR THE CAUSE OF CHRIST to see this lost and dying world come to know our Savior and King, JESUS.