Sunday Snippets- Suffering

This week's sermon was on 1 Peter 5:6-11.  It was about suffering.  Here are my notes/thoughts:

- Most of the time we confuse suffering with inconvenience.  We have a lot of first world problems.  We like to play the victim.  We like to complain.  I do this all the time.  I was already thinking of making one of my New Year's resolutions to complain less.  I want to increase joy in my life.  Instead of focusing on the bad I need to focus on the good more.  I want to find joy no matter what the situation, not something to complain about no matter what the situation is.

The 3 main points from the sermon were:

1. Humble submission points us to the authority of God.  Who is the author of your life?  Do you really trust Him even when things are bad or not the way you want them to be?  Not all suffering is from God- we live in a fallen world.  And even if your suffering is discipline it is not punishment- the punishment for your sin was on the cross.

2. We always submit to something- either sin or authority.  We follow our desires instead of His direction.  What do you turn to for comfort?  Every idol in our life must be identified and destroyed.  He should be what we turn to for comfort.

3. Our struggle is not forever.  Even the entirety of your life is just a short time compared to eternity.

I went to church on Saturday night and when I came home I watched the movie Soul Surfer.  It was such a good movie!  But I cried almost the whole way through it because it really emphasized what suffering is and what it is not and what our reaction to it should be.

Then today I got word that my friend's mother passed away.  She had been battling cancer for a while.  It just made this whole suffering thing come in to perspective. 

Everyone experiences suffering in this life.  Everyone.  The point is not to compare yours to others.  The point is recognizing the difference between inconvenience and suffering and how you react to both.


"Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."  Romans 5:3-4