Sharing in His Sufferings

by Angie Fotsis

The Spirit of God bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs- heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him that we may also be glorified together.”  Romans 8:16-17
 
When we believed in Jesus as Lord and Savior, we became children of the same Father as Him, and joint heirs with Him.  By the Spirit we were born again, made alive, and adopted into the Godhead's family!  Because of the kindness, mercy, and grace of God we were delivered out of the kingdom of darkness where we identified as children of disobedience.  We are no longer part of the Adamic family that is riddled with sin and on its way to eternal separation from God.  Our inheritance is no longer the wrath of God, but God Himself.  He is our portion now, and because of the resurrection of Jesus we look forward to a living hope that is ‘incorruptible, undefiled, not fading away, and reserved in heaven for us’ (1 Peter 1:4).  We are the beneficiaries of God sharing in the inheritance of Jesus.  All things in Christ are ours.  Now and forevermore.  What an amazing reality!
 
This is the gift of God that has been given to His children.  But, Paul makes it clear that the antecedent to glorification with Jesus is our suffering with Him. Suffering was the portion of Jesus, and is also that of the adopted co-heirs.  It may be our tendency to skim over the suffering part, but it's a packaged deal.  
 
As siblings of Jesus, we are called to share in His sufferings in order to share in His glory.  It is God’s will for us to be conformed into the image of His firstborn Son that we may be glorified with Him (Romans 8:17).  In John 6:38 Jesus says, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”  By the Spirit He lived in full obedience to the Father’s will in life and in death - even death on a cross (Philippians 2).  And as a result, He was exalted to the right hand of God – the highest position possible.  It was the embracing of the crucified life that led to His glorification.

If we’re honest, America has provided a level of comfort for us where it's sometimes difficult to relate to those who are physically suffering for their faith in Christ.  Most of us may never experience anything like that in our lifetime.  Yet, that does not mean we are exempt from suffering with Jesus.  We, too, have a cup to bear and a cross to carry.  It may not look like outward suffering, but it is a call to embrace the crucified lifestyle of Jesus.  We are called to lay down our lives in obedience to our Father's will...to say 'no' to the way we want to live, and 'yes' to His way of living.  A full submission to His Lordship.

Doing the will of the Father will look different in each of our lives, but the blueprint looks the same - the laying down of our lives on the altar for the Father to do as He wills with them.  When Jesus identified His spiritual family in Matthew 12:50, He said “whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”  The mark of the true member of the household of God is one who carries out the agenda of the Father.  By the leading of the Spirit, each of us can discover what God’s will is and carry it out in our lives by the power of the Spirit. 
 
When I examine my own life, I see areas where my will is still alive.  Areas that God is placing His finger on and inviting me to die in order for Him to rule.  The cultivation of our hearts is a lifelong journey.  Until we see Jesus face to face, we have been invited to live out the crucified life whereby we experience the joys of the resurrected life.
 
I pray that we would fix our gaze on the glorious future to come, allowing it to empower us to carry our crosses in our lives today.  May we, like Jesus, embrace the suffering that leads to glory and death that leads to life.  All things that are His are ours including the path He has traveled. This is the beautiful way of the Kingdom.