{"id":4525,"date":"2025-09-23T01:39:57","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T00:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/therootcourse.com\/devotional\/?p=4525"},"modified":"2025-12-24T12:36:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T11:36:09","slug":"when-love-learns-to-suffer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/therootcourse.com\/devotional\/when-love-learns-to-suffer\/","title":{"rendered":"When Love Learns to Suffer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>We know what real love is because Jesus gave up His life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.<\/em>\u2014 <strong>1 John 3:16<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>It has been granted to you not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for Him.<\/em> \u2014<strong> Philippians 1:29<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s a kind of suffering we don\u2019t talk about enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the kind that comes from following Jesus \u2014 This kind of suffering is not popular, not convenient, and not safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>It\u2019s Suffering for Christ.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the truth is \u2014 it is <strong>very<\/strong> avoidable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can walk away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can deny Him quietly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can take the easy road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If it\u2019s so avoidable why do some still suffer for Christ, even when they don\u2019t have to?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because they <strong>love<\/strong> Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And they <strong>fear<\/strong> Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In many places today \u2014 like parts of China or Sudan \u2014 people still get arrested, beaten, or even killed for saying, \u201cI believe in Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And it wasn\u2019t any easier in Bible times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were told to bow before a golden idol or be thrown into fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They could\u2019ve pretended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They could\u2019ve said, <em><strong>\u201cLet\u2019s just bow now and ask God to forgive us later.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But they didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They said, <em>\u201cOur God is able to save us\u2026 but even if He doesn\u2019t, we still won\u2019t bow.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s love and secure hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s a Love that says, <em>\u201cI\u2019d rather burn than betray Him.\u201d<\/em><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">God Is Better<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, we\u2019ve made it clever to hide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If someone said, <em>\u201cRaise your hand if you believe in Jesus \u2014 or die,\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>many would whisper, <em>\u201cGod will understand if I stay quiet\u2026 I\u2019m not denying Him. I\u2019m just surviving\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But imagine doing that to someone you love \u2014 a parent, spouse, or child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Denying them in public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And later saying, <em>\u201cThey know I love them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wouldn\u2019t that feel cheap?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Peter once said to Jesus, <em>\u201cI\u2019ll never leave You.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But when the pressure came, he denied Jesus \u2014 not once, not twice, but three times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s us sometimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We say we love God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But we won\u2019t stand for Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We choose comfort over conviction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We hide when we should speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But here\u2019s the beautiful turnaround \u2014 the same Peter who denied Jesus\u2026 later died for Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because <strong>his love had grown<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What About When You\u2019re Tempted?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>You may never be thrown into a lions den or a fiery furnace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But here\u2019s the real question:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When lust rises up\u2014will you bow?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or will you say, <em>\u201cGod is better than this.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>When you feel that urge \u2014will you say, \u201cI\u2019ll just fall and ask for forgiveness later,\u201d<\/em> or will you fight back with a heart that says,* \u201cJesus, I love You more than this feeling.\u201d***<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is what it means to suffer for love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not always in death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But in choosing Jesus when it costs you something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the kind of mindset we must grow into.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A mindset that says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cJesus, You\u2019re worth living for. You\u2019re worth dying for. Even if it\u2019s hard\u2026 I still choose You.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83e\udde0 <strong>Reflection<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Is your love deep enough to stand when it costs something?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Can you say <em>\u201cEven if He doesn\u2019t\u2026\u201d<\/em> I still choose Him?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p><strong>\ud83d\ude4f Let\u2019s pray:<\/strong><br><em>Lord, grow my love until it can stand. Teach me to see You as better \u2014 better than lust, better than comfort, better than the world. Help me follow You, even when it\u2019s hard. Even if You don\u2019t answer the way I hope, I choose to trust You. Strengthen me to love like Shadrach, Daniel, and Peter \u2014 fully, faithfully, and without shame. Amen.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We know what real love is because Jesus gave up His life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-devotional"],"acf":{"choi\u0441e_menu_page":"global_settings","full_width":false,"header_transparent":false,"header_white":false,"menu_type_page":"default","menu_align_page":"default"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therootcourse.com\/devotional\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therootcourse.com\/devotional\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therootcourse.com\/devotional\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therootcourse.com\/devotional\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therootcourse.com\/devotional\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4525"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/therootcourse.com\/devotional\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5422,"href":"https:\/\/therootcourse.com\/devotional\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4525\/revisions\/5422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therootcourse.com\/devotional\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therootcourse.com\/devotional\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therootcourse.com\/devotional\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therootcourse.com\/devotional\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}