I’ve written before of the support group Susan and I attend. Each month, thirty to forty people gather to encourage one another and talk about the common struggle with our disease. There is definitely fellowship in suffering, but there is also a celebration of life. Each person may be at a different place in his own battle, but we all have a special appreciation for each day we live.
Though there are differences, something about this group reminds me of church. God intends there to be fellowship among His children. He wants our eyes open to realities that the rest of the world often ignores. How do the mature view their days on earth? “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” Do we live with such truth in mind?
Difficulty has a way of bringing focus. Fellowship in suffering can make the focus even sharper. Some of the most passionate songs about Jesus and Heaven were composed and sung by slaves many years ago. Sufferers who know Christ have hope in their hearts and have so much to share.
I am thankful for healthy days and sunny skies, but fellowship is not just about my present circumstance. Do I have a friend in difficulty? Perhaps I can carry a bit of his load. I can always enter the place of prayer on behalf of others.
Richard Wurmbrand was a Romanian Christian who spent 14 years in prison for his faith. He often boldly challenged Christians to remember those who suffer for Christ. May such fellowship bring us joy in the Lord. From Richard’s book In the Face of Surrender:
Our brothers and sisters in jail volunteered to take beatings for others. When it was cold, prisoners gave away sweaters so that others might feel warm. I have witnessed such scenes myself. Concern for others drowns out your own troubles. Focus on God as the saints in prison do, and you will know that heavenly peace comes from patient cross-bearing. To get out of the neurosis of lawlessness, begin to practice the law of love, at least in the little things. Deny yourself for a period the food you love most, or some luxury of clothing, and think of those who eat unbearable food and are in rags. Interrupt your sleep for prayer on behalf of those interrogated during the night. Give up some item of cosmetics for those who cannot wash. Renounce an hour of television for those who for years have been in solitary confinement in underground cells and see nothing. Sacrifice your complaining and grumbling for one day. Take time from other preoccupations to pray for the persecuted.
“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort of his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Philippians 2:1-4