Christianizing Suffering

Suffering. It does not sound enthralling. If you have been through many pains, in one way or another, you might have been developing a profound fear of suffering. It is human and logically normal. Nobody desires to be always confronted by suffering. Suffering, if it is perceived at a glance or by the literal term per se, always connotes a painful bodily and spiritually experience.

However, as Christians, how should we perceive suffering? Inevitably, suffering has become part of our human nature. As a concrete example, when we were born to this world, the process of giving birth involved so much pain which both the mother and the baby experienced. On the other hand, the mystery of incarnation tells us clearly that the Lord humbled Himself and took the form of a weak human being, experiencing both joy and pain which men had to face. The Lord who is the sacrificial Lamb bravely suffered in order to bring redemption to mankind. This suffering Lord, later would gloriously triumph over death, is the representative of those who are always treated unjustly, marginalized, and suffering. That is why when we cry out to Him in the midst of our sufferings, He would listen to us because He has been through all of these. He knows our every pain because He has felt how bitter it was to suffer. Thus as Christians, suffering must have a redeeming purpose or a moment where our life is refined and sanctified. We offer our suffering to God that He may make it a fruitful one and be a time for gaining lessons and wisdom in life.

Suffering also serves as a test of our faith in God, as what the prophet Job experienced. Despite the fact that suffering connotes pains, as Christians we must perceive it under the light of Jesus’ passion and death. Suffering must never put us down, but instead we can think of it as a moment of spiritual refinement and our sanctification from evil. This can only have a meaning if we turn to God and ask Him to never leave us during our moments of troubles. That is how we Christianize suffering.