Kindness in Suffering: 12 Ways God Shows His Goodness Through Trials and AfflictionsExemplo

Suffering Conforms Us to the Image of Christ

In his letter to the dispersed churches, Peter informed believers that they had actually been “called for [the] purpose” of suffering (1 Peter 2:21). However, it is not a self-destructive, ascetic kind of suffering, but an identification with the One who suffered for us—the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter elaborates that “Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.” Our Lord suffered on the cross and “bore our sins in His body” (v. 24) in order to take away God’s punishment meant for us. However, as we live our lives, we are meant to look upon His suffering and “die to sin and live to righteousness” (v. 24). In this way, a life of suffering and self-denial becomes instructive for us.

There is more than this, however. When we identify with Christ’s suffering, we are submitting to our union with Him. Jesus told His disciples, “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20). In this way, suffering for the cause of Christ is an evidence that we belong to Him. This is what compelled Paul to affirm: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” (Col. 1:24). This is not to say that Christ’s sufferings were insufficient; rather Paul is identifying His own unique sufferings as belonging to the cause of Christ. In other words, whatever affliction Paul experienced because of Christ was ultimately meant to be cast upon the Lord by those who hate Him.

But as we imitate Jesus Christ in His life, we also are meant to imitate Him in His sufferings and death; and in our identification with Him in these things, we also share with Him in His glorious resurrection and ascension to the heavenly places (Eph. 2:6). Our union with Jesus Christ is so strong and so secure, it led Paul to declare: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20). God desires that we be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29; cf. Phil. 3:10). And the more we are conformed to His image—in life, in thought, in speech, in conduct, in suffering, and in death—the more we see that it is perhaps one of the greatest kindnesses of God to us that we should become like His own beloved Son.