Christian Suffering

Today’s discussion began with recognizing that most of us have been taught to expect rewards for good behavior and punishment for bad behavior. This mindset often translates into our expectation that our life will go well if we trust in God and follow His commandments. However, we must stress--both in our own life and in teaching our children—that God’s ways are not our ways. We must recognize and teach that God is merciful to us when we fall short, but only if we show that same mercy to others. Failing to show mercy to others causes us to fall away. We then turned to the topic of suffering. Father Aaron explained that Scripture teaches us that true biblical suffering is the result of suffering shame. While we often think of suffering as something that is physical--and there can certainly be a benefit to this while also trusting in God--the emphasis in the New Testament is that in taking up our Cross we must be willing to be shamed by others for following the teachings of Christ.