I keep hearing the song, When I see Jesus, Amen; and there’s a particular part in the song that says, “For if I suffer, I’ll gain eternal life.” Oh but then I turn to my bible; 1 Peter 5:10, that tells me “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” Then Romans 5:3-5, “More than 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.” And then Romans 8:18 sums it all up with, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Simply saying for if I suffer, I gain eternal life!
Oh, I feel alright about this thing called life now because if I suffer, I gain a reward over there. Yea, I feel alright about the bad times now because I got something greater waiting on me over there. Yea, I feel, I feel … I feel better about the storm I sometimes endure, this race I have to sometimes run alone, this pain that sometimes takes over my body, this sickness that tries to tear me down, the enemies who tries to destroy me, the lies folk tell to ruin me, the few haters I have that try to spoil my gift, the stress that tries to wear me down, the world that tries to confine me, the doubt that tries to bind me and even the no that tries to detour me because if I suffer through all of this … My God! For if I suffer, for if you suffer, for if we suffer; WE shall gain eternal, that’s everlasting, that’s never ending, that’s forever, that’s having no beginning nor end, no start or stop time, no cancellation or expiration date but undying life! Yea, you can shout now!
Lakisha, the Author 