Many years ago, I read “Tortured for Christ” by Rev. Richard Wurmbrand. It profoundly challenged me to purpose to follow Christ and cheerfully ‘count the cost’. Over the years of service as a missionary, I was sometimes characterized, as ‘out of sync’ with the world, foolish (by the worlds standards), wasting my time in the jungles, robber of a “normal” upbringing for my two daughters, suffering needlessly with no running water or electricity (the world clamors for comfort and convenience), etc.…
Yet, to this very day, I hold the awesome privilege of being a part of a very few who have lived without regret, counting the cost, determined to burn out serving and pleasing my God, first and foremost. The life that comes from a vibrant, functioning God-consciousness in turbulent times is a tribute to the reality of the value of counting the cost, which could and usually does, include…suffering.
“Suffering may help one to arrive at truth. ‘Tears, tears, bitter hulls but with such a sweet kernel,’ wrote the much-persecuted Romanian Christian poet, Traian Dorz. Most people have an unjustified phobia against suffering. Unnecessary tragedy should be avoided, but we should also realize that there is much good in suffering.
Milton wrote his finest poetry after he became blind. Beethoven composed his most beautiful music only after he became deaf. The German philosopher Kant, who suffered from an incurable sickness wrote, ‘I have become master of its influence on my thoughts and actions by turning my attention away from this feeling altogether, just as if it did not at all concern me…’
Solzhenitsyn wrote, ‘Blessed be thou, prison.’ The seven years in a Soviet prison made him the most powerful opponent of communism. Richard Wurmbrand said about himself, ‘My 14 years in communist prisons were the most fruitful of my life.’ He knew of no great character formed apart from suffering.
A world without suffering would consist of weaklings. What kind of love endures without painful sacrifice? He who counts the sufferings involved will never be a daring hero. Jesus made himself perfect through suffering. (Heb. 2:10) When Pope Alexander VI criticized by Savonarola for his unworthy life, offered him the position of cardinal in order to keep him silent, Savonarola answered, ‘May God keep me from being unfaithful to Him. I do not desire any other red cape than the crown of a martyr colored with my own blood.’
The highest state of a Christian is to be Christ-like. Christ was called a ‘Man of Sorrows’ (Isa. 53: 3) and ‘the lamb slain from the foundation of the world’ (Rev. 13: 8) To be a Christian means to become a co-sufferer with Christ. The more of His pain we are ready to share, the more truth we will receive.
Someday we will sit with Jesus Christ and the Father on the heavenly throne from which universes are administered. (Rev. 3: 21) Our merciful God ‘will wipe away every tear’ from the eyes of His saints, and all will be able to rejoice whole-heartedly (Rev. 7:17; 21:4)” written by Rev. Richard Wurmbrand (1909-2001)
Do you have any regrets?
~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America. Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California. My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.
