There is little I hate more than the glorification of suffering. Today’s post is a small glimpse into why I feel this way and a launch into my defense, from a religious perspective.

At this church week, the band sang a song I’ve never heard before—not rare but uncommon at this point. The song was called “Son of Suffering” and gave Jesus that title. I immediately had a few issues with this. First, this is not a biblical title for Jesus or God. Never in the Bible is God by name associated with suffering or anything negative. He is the Lamb of God, the Lion of Judah, the Prince of Peace. How can he be both the Prince of Peace and the son of suffering? 

That would be like us calling Jesus the son of sin or the son of pain or the son of death. Why would we identify God in all his glory and power by the negative thing he once defeated? Why glorify the negative thing he experienced for minutes rather than the powerful thing he experiences eternally? Jesus lived a life of power, authority, prosperity and peace for 32 years and change. For 10 or so hours, he was beat and physically suffered unto death. For three days in our time, he conquered death (though he was outside of time in hell) and came back to life. He did not live a life of suffering at all. He was revered and worshipped wherever he went for his entire life until the very end. He is not the God of suffering.

the glorification of “Christian” suffering in the West

When reading the letters authored by Paul, people mistakenly think that God adores suffering. But that is so far from the truth. There is only one kind of suffering that God takes value in us experiencing: suffering for the gospel. Any other suffering or affliction is pointless, worthless, and meaningless. It is a slap in the face to God, who suffered for seven hours the worst suffering of all time so that no one who believes in him would ever have to suffer again, to say that “God wants us to suffer.” If God wanted us to suffer, he would not have sacrificed his only son to end our suffering. It is blasphemy of high order to say that God wants us, who already have received the free gift of salvation from Jesus, to say, “we still deserve to suffer because this is what God wants.”

And by the way, what is “salvation”? Salvation is preservation or deliverance from harm, ruin, or loss. Jesus defeated death through suffering to deliver us from harm, ruin and loss, now AND eternally. People discredit the now part. They justify it by saying, “the disciples suffered.” FOR THE GOSPEL. The disciples only ever suffered at all for the sake of the gospel. Is your suffering that you glorify for the sake of the gospel? Probably not. When you say, “God wants me to suffer so I can be challenged and grow,” are you referring to being a Christian martyr, persecuted for sharing your faith, or are you speaking about personal earthly suffering? When people talk about their suffering they usually mean: death, sickness, loss, tragedy, pain, mourning, poverty, lack. God takes no glory in these sufferings. He is the God of abundance, life, healing, restoration, joy, dancing, laughing, and prosperity. Poverty, sickness, and trauma are not representative of God’s desire for mankind nor do they bring God any glory.

Think of it this way: if you’re trying to sell the gospel to someone, and you tell them “Jesus saved my life,” but you’re still embracing sickness, pain, trauma, poverty, and terror because you believe God wants you to suffer, is anyone going to be interested in serving your God? Does God get any glory when you misrepresent his kingdom by identifying with your afflictions? People in the Bible suffered many afflictions, loss, trauma, and pain. But they never said, “this must be what God wants for me.”

Job and suffering

Well, what about Job? 1) I don’t believe God wanted Job to suffer, but wanted to test his faith, for “the testing of faith produces perseverance.” 2) The test Job endured was to determine whether or not he would identify with his afflictions and curse God. Because, to blame God for all the suffering in your life is to curse him. 3) God was glorified in Job’s restoration. God has no glory in the suffering. Only in the restoration and abundance that follows if you refuse to identify with the suffering. Job mourned, but he didn’t believe God’s will was his mourning and suffering.

Also, people arrive at this “glory in my suffering” thing because they think they’ve tried to pursue healing or freedom in prayer and they’ve given up trying. So, in order to not question and be angry at God, they tell themselves, God must want me to suffer. This must be part of his will or his plan. I can tell you this, nowhere in God’s will is there suffering for ANY PERSON, except for Jesus before he died on the cross. And it is better to let yourself be temporarily angry at God if it means you get to the root cause of your afflictions, than to spiritually bypass and say “God must want this so I must accept it.”

God only gets glory out of healing your afflictions and ending your suffering when you allow him to. If you accept your suffering as something you deserve, something that there is no cure for, and something God wants, you are blaspheming. And, you are simply choosing more suffering for yourself.