Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko

To Be Like Christ

Suffering is just part of life.
            Not some surprise
                        In-your-back knife. 

Suffering keeps ego at bay.
            At times, it heals
                        Or, opens a way.

Suffering comes to one and all—
            To parents and children,
                        Great and small. 

Suffering shows me Satan’s schemes:
            To lie, to kill,
                        To steal my dreams. ¹ 

Suffering makes me seek from above—
            God’s power, presence,
                        Wisdom, love. ²  

Sufferers know, He has overcome!  
            The battle is over,
                        And Jesus won! ³ 

Look past the feelings of pain and woe.
            To be like Christ,
                        Sufferings must show. ⁴

 

  1. John 10:10

  2. James 1:2-5

  3. John 16:33

  4. Romans 8:17

 

© 2015 gratefulsue

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The second to last verse in this poem may be a bit confusing. What do I mean by, “The battle is over, and Jesus won?” What battle am I referring to, and how did Jesus win? I don’t mean that Christians can’t die from cancer, or be killed in car accidents caused by their own errors or others’. I don’t mean Christians can’t die in wars or suffer injustices. Human suffering on earth will not end until we meet Jesus in Heaven.

The “battle” refers to our endless battle with overcoming our own habits of sin. Sin means missing the mark of what God would desire for our hearts, thoughts, and actions. God is perfect and wants us to be like Him. In our own power, we can never stop sinning. But as a believer depends on help from God to overcome sin, and makes appropriate changes to help himself or herself, he or she can see progress and even victory. Jesus overcame temptation and never sinned. He can help us do the same.