Suffering produces fruit; relieve suffering
 

How is it that suffering produces hope (confident expectation),

3And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, 4endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope.

yet we are called to relieve suffering?

"feed and clothe the naked and hungry" etc.

Re: Suffering produces fruit; relieve suffering
 

i have no idea how to answer this, btw. Is it better to not relieve some suffering?

Re: Suffering produces fruit; relieve suffering
 

I think suffering for your convictions and faith in Christ is something we will be rewarded for.

But people who are suffering because of a physical or emotional need are the people we should reach out to, to show them our hope in Jesus.

Re: Suffering produces fruit; relieve suffering
 

Christ suffered for us, in a like manner (Christ-like) we will suffer for those who are in need. And our suffering for them produces eventual hope for us. The seed is planted, God gives the increase and those who were in need now suffer for others in the name of Jesus.

Re: Suffering produces fruit; relieve suffering
 

Or...I'm totally off and I effectively killed your thread Shaz.

Re: Suffering produces fruit; relieve suffering
 

:lol nah, those are good answers; but suffering is subjective, i guess. People even take advantage, pretend to be suffering to manipulate others, or pretend not to be suffering to maintain ego...and how do you explain this to a kid? And we're not done; people intentionally suffer in pursuit of some goal, and avoid suffering in pursuit of other goals. It would be nice if one could separate these from "obvious distress," but that is not so easy either, at least not always.

Parents allow their children to suffer emotionally in order to learn some truth, at least if they are determined to raise emotional adults, but then there is physical suffering, too. And either could be self-inflicted, or the result of chance. Someone riding a dirt bike who breaks their arm could be said to have self-inflicted suffering, but we still help them set their arm.

But there is a different definition of suffering, i think, reflected in "you think you are in good shape, but actually you are a mess," which i'll dig up in Scripture if you don't beat me to it--which is in contrast to say a guy who has been beat up and is laying in a ditch. So, i'm just kind of rambling here now, but eventually i will arrive at "there are times when one should intervene, and times when one should not." Which will of course be different for everyone.

Re: Suffering produces fruit; relieve suffering
 

shaz - have you been listening to Moody radio, again...

Re: Suffering produces fruit; relieve suffering
 

:lol

Re: Suffering produces fruit; relieve suffering
 

i never really thought about suffering much, tbh. And we provide for widows and orphans, so that lesson must be further extrapolated for a kid, especially one dealing with our societal and religious codependence.

Re: Suffering produces fruit; relieve suffering
 

The David Platt series on Moody, right now, is very good.
Has me doing some Bible searching on suffering.