Faith and Mental Health a 5-Day DevotionalНамуна

 Nowhere in the Bible does God promise his followers an easy life. On the contrary, Jesus told his followers to expect trouble in this world (John 16:33). And find trouble they did. Each one of the disciples was executed for his faith, with the exception of John, who was exiled to the island of Patmos, and Judas, who died by suicide. These were the men who literally changed the fate of the world by their willingness to follow Jesus and kick-start the great movement that would eventually become known as Christianity. And they all died. Badly.

And the suffering didn’t stop there. Paul, who took up the mantle of the first disciples, boasted of his sufferings for the Lord (2 Cor. 11:16–33). Consequently, throughout the ages, Christians have often embraced suffering as not only necessary to live but also a sign of living the life God intended for them to live. And, no doubt, this is sometimes the case, as Jesus said it would be when he declared that whoever wanted to become his disciple would need to “deny themselves and take up their cross” and follow him (Mark 8:34). 

So, for more than two thousand years, countless Christians have interpreted their own trials and tribulations as forms of taking up their crosses to follow Jesus, enduring whatever life throws their way for the sake of a faith that will be rewarded—perhaps not immediately but certainly eternally. Peace, then, is not to be found in the circumstances of life but in God’s peace, which “surpasses all understanding” (Phil. 4:7 ESV).

There is a great deal of wisdom and truth in the line of theological reasoning I’ve briefly sketched out above. Life is suffering—brutal, unfair, and often very, very cruel and confusing. . . . 

Yes, Jesus told us to expect suffering in this world, sometimes of the unimaginable variety. 

But that is not all Jesus said.

In fact, in the very same verse where he promised that life will be hard, he also reminded us that he has already overcome this world, a truth he not only articulated with words but also manifested physically in his resurrection from the dead. In life, there is suffering and death, but in God, there is healing and life. In John’s gospel, Jesus said this life is the very reason he came to earth. And not just any kind of life but one lived “abundantly” (John 10:10 ESV).