What comes to mind when you think of being a Christian? What does Christianity entail? Blessings, goodness, a great life, going to Heaven? Surely one wouldn’t follow Jesus and suffer!
Jesus was having a conversation with his disciples about how hard it will be for a rich person to enter the kingdom of Heaven after a man came to Him asking what he must do to inherit eternal life. The man walked away sad after Jesus told him to sell everything, give the money to the poor then follow Him. The disciples literally had given up everything and left their families behind to follow Jesus. Jesus then tells them “I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property- along with persecution” (Mark 10:29-30). Along with persecution? So, we will follow Jesus and suffer?
We fail to realize or tend to forget that Christianity isn’t about all the blessings we can get from God. It’s not about everything being perfect. We will follow Jesus and suffer persecution. These are things we must endure here on this Earth if we are true followers of Christ. We will have to drink out of the bitter cup of suffering just as Christ did (Mark 10:38). That’s what being a Christian is really about. We can all however, find hope knowing that “Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later (Romans 8:18).
