SYMPATHY IN SUFFERING

^[p. 445] SYMPATHY IN SUFFERING

One would not essay to speak to the Lord’s people unless one was in sympathy with them in what they were passing through. One might not be in the exact circumstances of the saints, for our circumstances are all varied, yet one would seek to maintain in the soul a sympathy and companionship in spirit, at least, with all sufferers for Christ’s sake; not that one would encourage in any who are suffering peculiarly, any pride in martyrdom; for any glory that accrues from suffering here is not for us; it is for God. We come into the gain of it, but it is not to minister to anything of the flesh in us. All the fat is for God. Even the possession of the Holy Spirit might be boasted of by the flesh to exalt itself, whereas any greatness or dignity which the Holy Spirit produces in us is alone for God. All the fat, as we read, is for God; so one would deprecate any development of the spirit of martyrdom with which the flesh would clothe itself in the people of God; and one would be reminded of what the apostle Peter says, “The same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world”, 1 Peter 5: 9. Peter intimates to those to whom he wrote that their sufferings were not exclusive to them, but general.

The people of God in this world suffer characteristically, as true to Christ, as it is said, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution”.