13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
I don’t know about you, but I enjoy joy much more than sorrow and grief. If I had a choice of how I was going to feel today, I would want a happy emotion rather than a sad emotion. And in many respects we do choose how we are going to feel today. We choose how we interpret the circumstances of our lives, and those interpretations are what drive our feelings. The writer and his readers were facing persecution and death for following Jesus. Their suffering for a righteous cause connected them to Jesus’ suffering. Not all suffering is of equal value in our lives. Not all suffering connects us equally to Jesus’ suffering. Sometimes we suffer because we made a foolish choice and the consequences of that choice create suffering. We should not be joyful in that suffering unless we repent and use the suffering to refocus our desires. Just like all human emotions, we need to let them out. Expressing joy is very important. This is especially true when joy is expressed in the midst of suffering. Joy expressed then is in such contrast to what is normal that it gets people’s attention. We are not talking about happiness, that temporary feeling that we get when things are going our way, but about joy, that deep-seated emotion that ties us to hope. Joy is anchored in the hope we have of a future in heaven with God, all sins forgiven, all brokenness restored. And for the Jesus-follower, that joy connects us to the overflowing joy we will experience when we joyfully greet Christ’s return. Our current joy is connected to that ultimate joy. The more we recognize the need for Christ’s suffering, the more we will rejoice when this life of pain and sorrow is completed. To say it another way, when we know what deep valleys of suffering are like, we enjoy the mountaintop views with a great deal more appreciation. Don’t fight the suffering; look for the joy of connection to Jesus.
The Arnold Journey 