Suffer with Me
“Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.”
Today’s Text: 2 Timothy 2:1-13 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
I am reflecting on what Paul wrote almost 2,000 years ago, and I am challenged today. Jesus Christ is our “commanding officer” we are to “please.” Jesus Christ is the “judge” who establishes the “rules” of the competition. Jesus Christ is the “landlord” who distributes a “share of the crops” to his tenant farmers.
I know that in my life, even as a pastor, it is easy to get distracted by worldly goals, away from the mission of God. Worldly goals are not necessarily “bad” goals or “evil” goals. They are simply goals that divert us away from the great commission to fill the earth with the glory of God in Jesus’s name through God-fearing, God-honoring, God-worshiping, God-loving communities and families, the church.
And that is why Paul invites Timothy to “Join with me in suffering.” We all pursue goals that take us away from the mission of Christ because our instinct is to avoid suffering. Of course, the point is not to pursue suffering for the sake of suffering, but the point is to pursue the mission of Christ, which will involve self-denial—that is, suffering—on some level.
The rules that govern our pursuit of Christ’s mission are not the rules of the world. The rules of the world are foreign to the rules of Christ’s mission and vice versa. The rules of Christ’s mission come from the word of God and involve, first and foremost, faith like Abraham’s. That is why we find the word of God so challenging or even nonsensical.
We can think of Paul’s exhortation to Timothy (that is, us) in terms of rewards and punishments. If our actions lead to the receiving of rewards or the withholding of punishments, we will tend to pursue those actions. If our actions lead to the receiving of punishments or the withholding of rewards, we will tend to avoid those actions.
Paul is telling Timothy (that is, us) that he needs to change the way that he is thinking about rewards and punishments. He ought to be pursuing the eternal rewards of Christ rather than the temporary rewards of this world.
We should not think of the “suffering” that we have to endure when we pursue eternal rewards as “punishment.” The “suffering” of eternal rewards is simply on par with whatever suffering we have to endure in the pursuit of worldly rewards too.
What is hard for the disciple of Christ is that we have no control over what the reward is or when we receive it. We might, in fact, receive some of our eternal rewards in this life, but that is all in the hands of Christ.
And if we really reflect deeply on all of that, we might come to realize that this lack of control over the reward is the actual cause of “suffering” for most followers of Christ. We don’t know what it really is. We don’t know when it will come.
It would do me good, and do all of us believers good, to train our hearts and minds to think of our eternal reward for our hard work as something far greater than any reward that we could possibly ever receive here on this earth. And Christ Himself is our model: “For the joy [that is, reward] set before Him, He endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2).
Father, Your word tells us about things that we can only imagine. I take Your word to be true, but I confess that the reality of that truth hasn’t fully sunk into my heart. I have received so much of Your grace and mercy. That I know by experience. But this eternal reward. I pray that You would make my imaginings about that reward as clear as day to me, everyday. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
