Why should Christians Suffer?
As Christians, we like the thought of sharing in Christ's glory, but what about sharing in His suffering? Jesus took care of the death penalty once and for all so we don't ever have to worry about that again. But the Bible teaches that we must suffer times of trial if we are to share in the glory. Is it worth it? Read what Paul says inRomans : ...For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and for us and conferred on us!
Are Christians who toil for the cause of Christ wasting their precious time?
Imagine a friend offered you a free lottery ticket. Would you take it? You've got nothing to lose—it's free! Too busy? Oh, but if you win—you win millions. You've got nothing to lose and millions to gain, so why not take the ticket? Of course you'd take it.
The great mathematician Blaise Pascal, in his Pensees, saw a similar scenario regarding faith in Jesus Christ. He concluded that the struggle to believe was worth it. He saw that if you believe in Christ—or at least die trying—you will gain everything as God promised. But if you choose to say no without trying—if you choose to say "meh"—you lose will everything. Dr. Peter Kreeft unpacks Pascal's Wager in his essay"Argument from Pascal's Wager":
“If God does not exist, it does not matter how you wager, for there is nothing to win after death and nothing to lose after death. But if God does exist, your only chance of winning eternal happiness is to believe, and your only chance of losing it is to refuse to believe. As Pascal says, ‘I should be much more afraid of being mistaken and then finding out that Christianity is true than of being mistaken in believing it to be true.’"