The Ethic of Suffering in Redeemed Community

Everyone suffers. It’s an inescapable byproduct of living in a broken world, with broken hearts, and broken bodies. Pain will find us in a multitude of ways.

Not everyone, however, has the benefit of suffering within a community of caring people who seek to support one another through such times. That sad reality often leaves people feeling depressed, scared, and hopeless.

Christian suffering shouldn’t be like that. We have the hope of the Gospel and the Body of Christ, therefore, when we suffer, we ought to have the benefit of support.

In this week’s text the apostle Paul is going to give us a powerful couplet that outlines the obligations of the one who suffers, and the faith community that surrounds the one who suffers.