Suffering: for good or bad..Which is worse?
(Not referring to which is better, but to which is for lack of a better word, more challenging.)
Suffering consequences from wrong actions…
Or suffering the torture and entrapment of doing right?
Better to suffer for good than bad I know, but there is a certain sense, this side of hell at least in which suffering for good is just too extremely intense to bear.
Saints need perseverance, to endure to the end, but we also are called to be perfect which who can grasp? When I am not perfect, temptation starts to loom, thus it becomes more challenging to turn back to right. One wrong decision can cause a cascade leading to more suffering consequences and re-sowing instead of reaping.
I think maybe the one advantage suffering for good has is to avoid the Groundhog Day effect that comes with consequences, i.e., you keep repeating the same vicious cycle of apologies, patronizing, disappointment from others, others having an idea what you’ve been up to. Ok, so that’s more than one advantage.
But my reason for writing is not to state the obvious but to make a case for suffering for wrong. Solely because as David knew, suffering for right leads to persecution from outsiders incl. friends, or in Job’s case, from God. He’s always testing our hearts for some reason.
I suppose with the subject of suffering, it’s like a long process of learning to walk. Like…half a step..crash…another quarter step…fall…two steps forward…roll back down the hill and so forth.
Lost in the Moment 