👉🏼 (Reading: Philippians 1: 27-30)

📜 ""For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him.""
Philippians 1:29 (NLT)

📋 We don't normally think of suffering as a privilege. But we Christians ought to understand that there is a kind of suffering that is a privilege--suffering for Christ. This is what the Apostle Paul teaches in today's anchor verse: "For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him."

Paul testifies about his own constant suffering for Christ: "We are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of it" (v.30). It is a privilege to suffer for Jesus because it is an honour to bear his name.

The Apostle Peter writes: "However, if you suffer as a Christian do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name" (1 Peter 4:16). Jesus himself makes it clear that it is a blessing to suffer for him: "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me..." (Matthew 5:11).

The apostles recognised that it was a privilege to suffer for Christ, so they rejoiced when they were flogged because of Christ: "The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name" (Acts 5:41).

Do you rejoice when you suffer for Christ?

🔑 Key Lesson: It is a privilege to suffer for Jesus.

🛐 Meditation and Prayer: Lord, give me the grace to rejoice when I suffer for Christ.

📚 Further Reading: Matthew 5:10-12.

◼️ The Bible in One Year: Matthew 14-17.