The Advantage of Disadvantage

Generally speaking, most people regard most religions as mostly the same. A different nuance here or there, but, for the most part, what's the difference? As it turns out, of course, Christianity is not the same ... in many ways. First and foremost, every religion on the planet plans to get their followers to heaven by good works. Christianity explicitly teaches, "By works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight." (Rom 3:20). There are a lot more differences after that. We have a risen Savior, a God-Man, who bore our sins. He claimed to be God Incarnate. Christianity claims, "No one seeks for God." (Rom 3:11). There are far more fundamental differences than most imagine.

One that is interesting is the claim that "we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." (Rom 5:3-5). So certain is this rejoicing in sufferings that it is a command (James 1:2-3). Suffering is not only considered normal (John 15:20; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Peter 4:12-13; 1 John 3:13); it is regarded as a gift (Php 1:29; James 1:12). In normal human experience, none of this makes sense. From the perspective of Scripture, it's all quite clear.

Jesus promised suffering for His followers (e.g., John 15:20). Paul assured us that "all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." (2 Tim 3:12). But suffering in Christianity is not the end. It's the beginning. Paul wrote, "Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." (2 Cor 4:17). "Light and momentary troubles"? He says, "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies." (2 Cor 4:8-10). "Light and momentary," then, is only from an eternal perspective. But in Christ it produces so much good. It produces endurance and character and hope (Rom 5:3-5). It produces patience and completion (James 1:3). It identifies us with our Savior (1 Peter 2:20). It makes us dependent on God's power (2 Cor 12:9-10). It is not merely a nuisance; it is part of God's unending love for us in which we are "more than conquerors" (Rom 8:35-37).

In our world these days "disadvantage" is perhaps the ultimate evil. In 2012, France banned homework in schools because homework "creates a disadvantage for students who can't get help from parents at home." Disadvantage is evil. And, in fact, we as a nation generally seek to remove disadvantage, although the ultimate goal can't be met. It is, then, quite stunning to see that in Christ the disadvantage of suffering, even to death, is considered something worth rejoicing over -- a great advantage. If only American Christians would start to believe that.