Difference between suffering for Christ or self caused infliction?

In response to a man suffering because of his own reckless sin, who kept saying: "I feel like Job", by Dean VanDruff.

You are not like Job, you are more like David. Job suffered for his righteousness, and your suffering is due to your own sin--like David. David lost his son by Bathsheba, but prayed earnestly and in faith till the very last moment. He did not complain, he prayed and wept and fasted and begged God to change His mind. David was forgiven by God, but still lost his son. God is much more interested in your long term spiritual life than in alleviating the pain of the mess you have made in your marriage. If you are "put right" and by grace receive a "right spirit", then things like reconciling a marriage are rather easy for God.

God could have easily healed David's son, but God achieved a greater good by teaching David that his sin would find him out. And you must remember, it is not up to David or you, it is up to God. His will is inexorable.

I know this is a difficult time, but you need to see that you are not Job. You are not suffering unjustly.

To suffer unjustly is the eventual destiny of all Christians who truly become like Christ, and so we ought consider it our job description in the future. And if we "complain" of suffering that we richly deserve now, we are rather flunking the entry exam into the Kingdom of Christ. Instead, we ought to give glory to God for the measured judgment that he has given us that we deserve, and see it as training for the pain to come that we will not deserve.

  For if we want "out" of the deserved suffering we now have, what chance will we have of being really like Christ in the future? If we reject chastisement that is "fit", will we embrace suffering that is not? Think about it.

Stop failing by wanting to throw-off this practice cross, for if you keep doing so there is little chance you will "take up" a cross in the future that you don't deserve. Rather, "set your face like flint" to the glorious adventure of faith God has set before you, and aim to please Him and endure to the end... like Jesus did.

1 Peter 2:19-23 (NIV) For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth." When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.

If we aim to be "like him", then we need to accept the suffering "for doing wrong" with patience and without our knees buckling. Bear up, brother, and realize where you are. You are not suffering "unjustly", you are suffering under discipline. If you reject this suffering, then you will be "unfit" for the Kingdom to come, where suffering has no relation to what we deserve.

1 Pet 2:21 (TCN) For it was to this that you were called! For Christ, too, suffered--on your behalf--and left you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

I know this is a hard message, but I am trying to make your path straight and strengthen what is feeble in you. Consider the future, and to what God has called you to. You must not "wimp-out" now if you hope to be like Job or Jesus or Stephen in the future.

Heb 12:7-8 (Wey) The sufferings that you are enduring are for your discipline. God is dealing with you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? And if you are left without discipline, of which every true son has had a share, that shows that you are bastards, and not true sons.Heb 12:11-13 (NAS) All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.

Get it? You are at a crossroads. Will you obey and bear up under "just punishment"?Imagine your own son not just weeping after a spanking, but throwing a tantrum and banging his head against the wall and recoiling into a corner, glowering, etc.: As if he had been wronged! As if he deserved better! This would not be a good sign that such a son will ever be able to grow up and deal with undeserved pain and problems of life... if he recoils at loving and fair punishment now. Rather such a boy should cry if he needs to (no shame in that) but also eventually raise his hands to his father and stand up and embrace the father... even if his hiney is sore. Else, the hindquarters will just get more blows rather than to get healed of the spanking.
I do hope you see the point. My stridency here is that we have spoken of this many, many times, and this time I do not want you to miss it. Else we go 'round and 'round and get nowhere.
We have a destiny, and it goes way beyond suffering for what we deserve.

1 Peter 2:20 (Wey) If you do wrong and receive a blow for it, what credit is there in your bearing it patiently?

Well, there is at least the credit of not being a surly, wimpy little boy if we bear up under it. Further, there is the "credit" of being "trained by" such chastisement now so that we can grow into undeserved suffering later. For this is our calling and destiny, and we should not shrink back from it.

For example, Hudson Taylor lost his wife not because of sin but because he followed God to China, where she caught a horrible disease and died, as did one of his children. Do you think he did not feel vivid, excruciating pain and sorrow about this? Yet did he buckle under? No. He persevered and trusted God, and did great exploits for the Kingdom of God in the present harvest of souls that we now see in China. This is the kind of suffering God thinks is really glorious--for this is the kind His own Son endured. To get there, we must learn to suffer when we deserve it first.

For if we endure what we deserve, things will not get better (from a carnal perspective) but we will "graduate" to something much more difficult: suffering as a reward for doing good. But we have the promise that as we grow in this grace we will become proportionately like Stephen, who received a Spirit of glory as rocks (unjustly) crushed his skull after preaching a Spirit-infused sermon. The glory given to Stephen may be well beyond our calling, but we should consider that to the extent we are blessed with unjust suffering, to that extent our faces will glow with the very glory of Christ. To get there, we have to get over the "sulks" of being a glowering-little-boy who is buckled over in the corner for a spanking he richly deserved.

1 Peter 4:14-19 (NIV) If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome before those who do not obey the gospel of God? And, "If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?" So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

Why should you read your bible daily?

I was talking with a friend recently about how I’d been spending a lot of time reading books about the Bible, but less time reading the Bible itself. The spaces between my personal reflections on Scripture were growing wider. I still felt like I was growing and learning, but deep down I knew I was missing something.

Our conversation turned to my parents, who have been incredible, faithful examples of what it means to follow Jesus all my life—but they rarely read the Bible. For my parents, years of task-oriented, check-the-box dedication to Bible study left them with a bitter taste in their mouths. Reading the Bible and memorizing its verses had been impressed upon them so strongly that they could no longer read the Bible without also recalling the negative reinforcement and guilt that often accompanies regimented Bible-reading groups. Both of my parents have preferred to learn and grow by reading someone else’s reflections on Scripture rather than diving into it themselves.

They were spiritually scarred by their perspective of Bible study.

I grew up thinking, “But that’s still no excuse.” Yet, as I found myself encountering similar methodologies for Bible study, I couldn’t help but wonder, “Is this going to wear me out too?” My parents were once just as enthusiastic about Bible study as I was.

The church has more Bible study plans, methods, groups, and techniques than we know what to do with. But here’s the thing: these methods help you create discipline to do something you should want to do. If you don’t see the purpose behind the methods, you’ll burn out. On their own, Bible reading plans and verse memorization techniques are overwhelming—they take time and effort, and can leave you feeling guilty for missing a day, a week, or a meeting.

What’s the point of Bible study plans?

Starting a Bible reading plan is like starting a new diet.

Changing your diet takes discipline. Even if it’s something you really want for yourself, it’s easy to slip up and forget about it. If you let bad habits keep footholds in your life, you’ll fail before you start, and you’ll never create the healthy new habits you want.

The Bible is one of our greatest sources of spiritual food. But sometimes we still fill up on junk food. Blogs, social media, news, TV shows, books, and games. These things aren’t bad in themselves, but when they’re the only sources of perspective, information, and insight you consume, something is missing.

When you have a sodium deficiency, your body craves salty foods. You might not even notice that you’re craving salty foods in particular, but your body is reacting to that deficiency by creating a desire for something that restores it.

Many non-Christians have no desire to read the Bible. They want nothing to do with it. But that doesn’t mean that as God’s creation they don’t, on some level, crave his truth, his wisdom, his love, or his perspective. I see non-Christians all the time who have no idea how closely their innermost desires parallel God’s desires for them.

A Christian, though, is much more likely to notice the source of this spiritual deficiency—we’ve already been exposed to the source of God’s wisdom, truth, and perspective. God’s Word is meant to permeate every aspect of our lives. Our knowledge of him is supposed to transform us into “the aroma of Christ” (2 Corinthians 2:15), but something smells fishy.

The more the spaces grow between my daily readings, the more I find myself saying things like, “That reminds me of a verse in [book of the Bible],” or, “That sounds kind of like the passage where . . .” Before I know it, I’m not just paraphrasing Scripture anymore—I’m making vague references to it, or letting other sources have a greater impact on my understanding of God’s character.

In those moments, losing sight of the value of daily Bible study is more like cutting caffeine from my diet. I’ve never been a coffee drinker, but I have energy drinks all the time because they help me stay alert and focused when I need to be. Caffeine is something I’ve made a part of my regular diet for a purpose—and when I stop having it, I feel it. I don’t have the energy I used to throughout the day. I can’t focus as long. Or, worse, I get headaches.

Without your daily dose of Scripture, it’s tough to be at your best all day.

But reading your Bible isn’t just something you need to do to stay spiritually healthy. It’s not a pill you have to swallow or a chalky vitamin you have to chew. Reading the Bible is something you should do because you want to.

What if I don’t want to read the Bible?

Imagine that your parents wrote a book for you—it’s the history of your family, their marriage, your childhood, how you’ve become the person you are today, and their hopes and dreams for your future. Woven throughout the book is a clear, underlying theme: they love you very much. Maybe, just maybe, you pick up on another theme as well: you haven’t always known what was best for you, and they usually know what they’re talking about.

How do you think they would feel if you told them, “Look, at least I read a chapter today”?

How much you read and how frequently you read is not the point.

Part of my job at Faithlife lets me write reflections on Scripture or dig into biblical topics. To do that well, I need to dig into the Bible daily. But whenever I read the Bible for work, I’m reading with an agenda—I’m hunting for a verse or prowling through a passage. For Scripture to penetrate my heart and permeate my life, I have to read it just to read it, too.

Reading the Bible exposes you to the history of the creator’s relationship to creation—that includes you. If you want to know who God is, he had 40 people write a whole book about him over the course of about 1,500 years. Now all you have to do is pick a Bible up off the shelf, read the Bible online, or download the Bible on your phone.

However you read the Bible, you’re going to get the most out of it if you do it because you want to.

Don’t do it because someone is making you.

Don’t do it to show off how much you read.

Don’t memorize verses to get a cookie, a prize, or acknowledgement.

Can a Christian be Demon possessed?

We must remember, first of all, that God’s Word is our only reliable source of truth about Satan and demons.

Princeton theologian and scholar Dr. CharlesHodge rightly warned: 

No amount of learning, no superiority of talent, nor even the pretension to inspiration, can justify a departure from the . . . truths taught by men to whose inspiration God has borne witness. All teachers must be brought to this standard; and even if an angel from heaven should teach anything contrary to the Scriptures, he should be regarded as anathema, Gal. 1:8.  

It is a matter of constant gratitude that we have such a standard whereby to try the spirits whether they be of God (Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972], p. 395).

What does God’s Word, the touchstone of truth, say? Can demons inhabit or spatially indwell a true believer? Can they walk through an open door and become a squatter? Proponents of today’s spiritual warfare movement say yes, but they base their answer on subjective experience, not on God’s Word. The Bible makes it clear that such a claim has no justifiable basis.

There is no clear example in the Bible where a demon ever inhabited or invaded a true believer. Never in the New Testament epistles are believers warned about the possibility of being inhabited by demons. Neither do we see anyone rebuking, binding, or casting demons out of a true believer. The epistles never instruct believers to cast out demons, whether from a believer or unbeliever. Christ and the apostles were the only ones who cast out demons, and in every instance the demon-possessed people were unbelievers.

The collective teaching of Scripture is that demons can never spatially indwell a true believer. A clear implication of 2 Corinthians 6, for example, is that the indwelling Holy Spirit could never cohabit with demons:

What harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people”  (vv. 15–16).

In Colossians 1:13, Paul says God “delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.”  Salvation brings true deliverance and protection from Satan. In Romans 8:37, Paul says we overwhelmingly conquer through Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15:57, he says God gives us the victory. In 2 Corinthians 2:14, he says God always leads us in triumph. In 1 John 2:13, John says we have overcome the evil one. And, in 4:4, he says the indwelling Holy Spirit is greater than Satan. How could anyone affirm those glorious truths, yet believe demons can indwell genuine believers?

Why you should not do good?

Evil is very real and present in the world. The Bible tells us that we are all born with sin, and that even some of God's people are wolves in sheep's clothing. However, even as sinners we are still giving a conscience that helps us not give into evil urges. Feelings of shame and guilt are right emotions that guide us. These Bible verses about evil will help you determine the difference between an evil heart and an ordinary sinful heart.

• 1 Corinthians 13:6        Proverbs 6:1
  

  A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech, winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger, with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord; therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing. There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him:

  Proverbs 28:1-28 ESV 

  The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion. When a land transgresses, it has many rulers, but with a man of understanding and knowledge, its stability will long continue. A poor man who oppresses the poor is a beating rain that leaves no food. Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law strive against them. Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it completely. ...

  Ecclesiastes 12:14 ESV 

  For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

  James 1:13 ESV 

  Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.

  Psalm 5:4 ESV / 151 helpful votes

  For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.

  Psalm 34:21 ESV 

  Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.

  Micah 2:1 ESV 

  Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand.

  Psalm 37:1-40 ESV 

  Of David. Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in theLord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to theLord; trust in him, and he will act. ...

Nowhere does the Bible say that a Christian in this life will ever be completely perfect—that is, free from all sin (1 John 1:8).

As long as we are on this earth, we will always struggle against temptation and sin. That is one reason Jesus taught His disciples to pray (in The Lord’s Prayer), “Forgive us our sins … And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Luke 11:4, Matthew 6:13).

Sometimes we sin by our actions; sometimes by our motives. Often we sin not because of what we do, but because of what we fail to do. For example, we fail to love or forgive others, or in other ways fail to do things we ought to do—and that is sin.

However, there are three important truths we need to repeat over and over to ourselves. First, just because we sin does not mean we are no longer God’s children. Our fellowship with God may be broken, but our relationship is not. Second, when we sin God stands ready to forgive us, and we need to turn to Him immediately.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Third, God wants to help us (through His Holy Spirit, who lives within every believer) to avoid sin in the future. “Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature” (Galatians 5:16).

Thank God that you belong to Christ, and thank Him for His grace and forgiveness when you do sin—and for strength to overcome future temptation. “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One” (1 John 2:1).

St. Paul's Sufferings for the Gospel sake.

St Paul was regularly attacked because of the faith, and eventually paid the highest price

St. Paul, who had one of the most famous conversions in the history of Christianity when God literally knocked him off his high horse as he traveled to Damascus to persecute Christians, had to suffer his own litany of abuses once he became one of those whom he had persecuted. Three days after Paul's conversion experience, in fact, Jesus appeared to the disciple Ananias, saying: “ …  this man is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and Israelites, and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name.”

The first persecution followed Paul’s preaching in Damascus, where he went with a completely renewed purpose after his conversion experience: to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Jewish synagogues. Having been trained as a bright young Jew by some of the top scholars of Jerusalem, Paul had a deep knowledge of Sacred Scripture and great rhetorical skills, which he lost no time in putting to use for Christ. So great a response was he drawing from the Jews there that the governor of Damascus promptly set out to kill Paul, setting guards around the city to capture him. But, as Paul himself related to the Corinthians, “I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.”

Paul’s home base eventually became the Christian community in Antioch, Syria, from which he embarked on many successful missionary trips to Asia Minor and Greece (Book of Acts) before tensions with some of the Jewish-Christian communities in Jerusalem led to a two-year house arrest, first in Cæsarea and then in Rome. Throughout these mission trips, Paul suffered multiple beatings from opposing groups. In Lystra, he was stoned by a group of Jews so badly that they left him for dead. St. Paul mysteriously alludes to “the marks of Jesus” on his body in Galatians 6:17. Some Scripture scholars believe he refers here to the scars left by this beating. Others suggest that he refers to the stigmata, the supernaturally bestowed marks of Christ’s crucifixion which some of the saints suffered.

After an intense missionary career spanning twenty years or more (45-66/67 A.D.), St. Paul (on the same day as St. Peter) paid the ultimate price for his Christian faith: martyrdom. He was beheaded outside the walls of Rome on June 29, 67 A.D., and remains one of the Church’s brightest witnesses of radical, self-giving discipleship.