Christians Bear Their Suffering With Joy
Most of you in this audience will remember a show in the ‘70's which came on every Saturday night called Hee Haw. In that show there was a song the characters sang which introduced a particular segment — the words were as follows:
Gloom, despair and agony on me, deep, dark depression, excessive misery, If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all, Gloom, despair and agony on me. Following the mournful singing of these words, the characters would then proceed to tell of their woes — all intended of course to make the audience laugh.
While I do not believe that we as Christians live in a state of “excessive misery” I do believe that we face adversity because of our faith. Please consider for a moment the following statements: “Adversity is the companion of every Christian on his way to Paradise.” (A.E. Tozer) “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). “The more difficult the path, the more joy for him who follows his Lord.” (A. E. Tozer) “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials” (James 1:3). In our text this morning, Peter addresses our response to the adversity we face as Christians, the reason for it and the place of comfort in the midst of it.