Will You Suffer If You Believe? {Memorize Philippians 1:29-30}

I don’t really like these two verses. Was Paul implying that all who believe will also suffer?

This makes me uncomfortable.

Memorize This Week

29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,
30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.
Philippians 1:29-30

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These Were the Gifts

The Philippians saw Paul and Silas under conflict when they were in Philippi. Read it in Acts 16:19-40. They were dragged to the marketplace, beaten, scourged, put into prison, their feet in stocks.

But the Philippians believed in Jesus anyway. It was “granted” to them (gifted to them).

They were hearing that Paul was still engaged in conflict. He was imprisoned in Rome, on trial for his life.

Paul was now telling the Philippians that they, too, were receiving both these “gifts”:

• the belief
• and the suffering.

But not just suffering for the sake of suffering. It was suffering for the sake of Christ.

That’s what makes the difference.

Will We Suffer, Too?

Well, probably yes. Everybody suffers sometimes. And sometimes it’s for what you believe.

Our suffering may not be like Paul’s. But even if it is the same as Paul’s—eventually becoming a martyr for the cause of Christ—it doesn’t mean God has abandoned us. To the contrary. Suffering is an opportunity to cling even more tightly to God.

If God knows about it, we don’t have to be afraid of it.

Paul wasn’t afraid of his sufferings. He didn’t try to wriggle out of them. Rather he embraced them as proof that he was participating with Christ in His mission (Philippians 3:8-10).

If like Paul, and like the Philippians, we have the same type of conflicts, we can also have the same type of joy as we participate with Christ.

To be honest, I’d rather have the joy without the conflict.

But if for the sake of Christ we receive the same favor to both believe and to suffer, may we accept the grace God will give us to get through it.

This is our last week to post about Philippians 1. Thanks to all who have read along with us, whether you were memorizing or not. It’s beneficial to have company along the way; your support is valuable to us.