The Way of the Cross: Pain That Transforms Into PurposeНамуна

Day 3: The Fellowship of Suffering

Paul writes: "I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings."

That's a hard verse.

We want to know Jesus in power, joy, and certainty. But Paul says to know Him fully is to enter into suffering. Not because suffering itself is holy, but because in it, something is revealed—something about Jesus, something about us, something about redemption that cannot be learned any other way.

Suffering feels senseless. If you've been through loss, grief, or betrayal, you know the feeling: What was the point? Where was God? And most of the time, there is no satisfying answer.

But Jesus—who did not need to suffer, who did not deserve to suffer—stepped into it and transformed it.

The resurrection doesn't erase suffering; it redefines it. Jesus' wounds did not disappear when He rose from the dead. They remained, but they no longer told a story of death—they told a story of redemption. That same redemption is accessible to all of us today.

We don't need to glorify suffering, but we don't need to run from it. What if, instead of fearing hardship, we trusted that God was and is still writing the story? What if we looked to the cross as an avenue in which Jesus rewrote pain into victory? The cross led to the resurrection. If Jesus can bring life from death, then nothing, not even our deepest wounds—is beyond redemption.

Neither do we need to suffer alone anymore. We are invited to come to Him in fellowship, knowing there is a transformation for our pain from a God who also had to endure it.

Next Step

• Contemplate: Is there something you are suffering from that you are hiding from God- ask yourself where that resistance is coming from.
• Act: Do you have anyone in your life suffering right now? Reach out. Let them know they are not alone.
• Pray: Pray Philippians 3:10-11 this week—not as a demand for suffering, but as a surrender to fully knowing Christ.

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