Why Is Suffering Part of God's Plan?

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Romans 8:1-17

8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

 
 

Here, when we look at Romans 8:1–17 as a whole, we can see that Paul is emphasizing the nature and importance of life in the Spirit for those who are in Christ.

Yes, Christ’s death set us free from sin and death, but that is merely the first step in God’s plan for humanity, and there is more for those who are in Christ. It’s important to Paul that we understand that God has given the Holy Spirit to those who are in Christ and that He now enables them to live a new kind of life, empowered by the Spirit. To Paul, this is what it means to be a Christian—to live in this new way.

One of the aspects of the Christian vocation is to be at the place where the world’s pain and our prayers meet. In other words, those who are in Christ are meant to be like Christ and intercede for the suffering world.

This is a deep insight into the calling of a Christian that we need to sit with today. In our next day’s reading, Paul will explain that today’s suffering will not compare with tomorrow’s glory.

But, before we get there, we should sit with the idea of suffering in the Christian life.

Why is suffering part of God’s plan to prepare us for our place in God’s glorious future?