Acts 9:16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.

Here we are trying to grow in Christ and comparing our spiritual growth with bodily growth. As we grow we suffer both physical and emotional pain in growth. Did you expect spiritual growth to be different?

1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

Here at the end of that section of 1 Corinthians 13 that describes how love behaves in us is this profound statement. If you are going to grow in Christ then the joy of childhood in the spirit must also grow and put away the childish naïveté and accept the responsibilities that come with growth in Christ.

When I came to Christ, as many do, it was to escape pain. The life I had left caused me pain, caused others pain, and coming to Christ was a great relief. The last thing I wanted was to suffer. I just wanted to be fat, dumb and happy. As a parent, I would never want that for my child, nor does God want that for us. God does not raise up pew potatoes.

Even before Christ went to the Cross He warned His disciples what they would be in for by following Him.

Matthew 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.

Luke 6:22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.

It would be wrong of me not to follow His example and tell you exactly what you are getting yourself into by becoming a disciple of Christ.