WE MUST NOT IMAGINE THAT WE ARE SUFFERING FOR CHRIST, AND WITH CHRIST, IF WE ARE NOT IN CHRIST. My friend, are you trusting Christ alone? If not, whatever you have to mourn over on this earth, you are not suffering with Christ; and you have no hope of reigning with him in heaven. Neither are we to conclude that all of a believer's sufferings are sufferings with Christ, because IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT WE BE CALLED BY GOD TO SUFFER. If we are rash and imprudent, and run into positions for which neither providence nor grace has proper us, we ought to question whether we are not sinning against Christ rather than joining Christ in the fellow-ship of his sufferings. Spurgeon said this - "If we let passion take the place of Judgment, and self-will reign instead of scriptural authority, we shall fight the Lord's battles with the devil's weapons, and if we cut our own fingers we must not be surprised". Again, WE MUST NOT THINK THAT WE ARE SUFFERING WITH CHRIST IN THOSE TROUBLES THAT COME UPON US BECAUSE OF OUR OWN SIN. When Miriam Spoke evil against Moses for marrying a black woman, and the leprosy came upon her, she was not suffering for the Lord. Many people suffer because of their pride, their ill-tempers, or their obnoxious behavior, and call it suffering for Christ, when in reality it is suffering because of their own wickedness. THAT SUFFERING WHICH GOD ACCEPTS AS SUFFERING TOGETHER WITH CHRIST MUST HAVE GOD'S GLORY FOR ITS END. If I suffer that I may win a name for my self, or that I may win applause from my fellowmen, I shall get no other reward than the reward of the Pharisee.
To suffer for Christ is to take up his cross and follow him. It is to volun-tarily and willingly walk in a path of obedience to Christ that I know will be painful and costly to me. TO SUFFER FOR CHRST IS TO FOLLOW CHRIST IN THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. It is necessary that love for Christ, love for his gospel, and love for his elect is the mainspring of our hearts. We must manifest the Spirit of Christ in meekness, boldness, gentleness, and kindness. Let us search and see if we truly suffer with Christ. Am I running contrary to the tide of popular opinion for the glory of Christ, or because I am a rebel? Is my heart's concern for the gospel of Christ, or my own intellectual pride? Am I seeking that which is good for the people of God, or that which is pleasing to myself?
Now let every true believer count the cost, weigh it carefully, and take up his cross to follow Christ, willing to suffer with him whatever reproach may come by following him. And if we do incur sufferings in our path of obedience to Christ, we recognize that our "light affliction" is not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. "If we suffer we shall also reign with him." Shall we not take up the cross with speed, and go on our way rejoicing in the hope that is set before to. It is a blessed thing to suffer with Christ. And it shall be a blessed thing to reign with him.
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