The Suffering For Which You’re Not Prepared
American Christianity has no category for this kind of pain.
The Comfortable Untruth We’ve Embraced
American Christianity has become anesthetized to real persecution.
We’ve constructed a faith that promises:
Victory without valleys.
Resurrection without crucifixion.
Breakthrough without any brokenness.
Here’s the awkward reality: Your theology of suffering is probably deficient.
Many Western believers operate with a prosperity-adjacent mindset that treats trials as spiritual failures rather than sovereign appointments. We’ve sanitized the gospel into a self-help program where suffering suggests you’re doing something wrong.
The apostles would be appalled.
What Scripture Actually Promises
1 Peter 4:12-13 demolishes our cozy assumptions: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed.”
Notice Peter’s language about the coming fiery trials; it’s not if, but when.
Paul amplifies this in 2 Timothy 3:12: “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”
Does all mean all?
Certainly, not persecutions in America?
Even more devastating in our understanding of Christianity is Philippians 1:29: “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him but also suffer for His sake.”
Notice, it’s granted.
Suffering is even assumed.
When did you last hear that preached?
The Reality You’re Probably Not Aware of
While American churches debate worship styles and Bible translations, according to Newsweek, more than 7,000 Christians had been killed in Nigeria during the first 220 days of 2025 alone, an average of 35 killings per day.
Thirty-five believers, murdered every day!
More Christians are killed for their faith in Nigeria than in the rest of the world combined, according to human rights organization Open Doors (Newsweek).
This is not hyperbole; this is confirmed by data showing 82% of the 4,998 Christians killed for faith-related reasons globally in 2023 occurred in Nigeria, according to the House of Commons Library.
The violence has displaced at least 12 million Christians since 2009, according to Intersociety (Newsweek), when Boko Haram began its insurgency to establish a caliphate in Nigeria.
Your brothers and sisters in Christ are being slaughtered, and we’re debating carpet colors?
More so, the silence is deafening—not just from the news media, but, unfortunately, from too many pulpits as well.
The Truths We’ve Lost
Sanctifying Suffering
Modern preaching treats trials as interruptions to be endured.
Yet, scripture presents them as instructions to be embraced.
John MacArthur notes in his commentary on James (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary) that suffering serves as God’s refining fire, burning away the dross of self-reliance.
We’ve replaced this surgical theology with spiritual novocaine.
Participatory Suffering
Paul doesn’t just endure suffering; he participates in Christ’s sufferings. This mystical union through affliction has virtually disappeared from Western churches.
A.W. Pink writes in “The Sovereignty of God” that our sufferings are neither random nor wasted; they’re divinely orchestrated to conform us to Christ’s image.
Every cancer diagnosis.
Every bankruptcy.
Every betrayal.
Why This Matters Now
The Coming Cost
What happens when comfortable Christianity meets uncomfortable reality?
Doctrinal drift?
Spiritual collapse?
Cultural conformity?
R.C. Sproul warned repeatedly in his Ligonier Ministries teachings that American Christians were unprepared for genuine persecution because we’ve theologized away its necessity.
We built our house on therapeutic sand, not biblical bedrock.
The Present Reality
The truth is, you’re already suffering; you just don’t have categories for it.
That relational breakdown isn’t just personal; it’s sanctifying.
That chronic illness isn’t just medical; it’s theological.
That job loss isn’t just economic; it’s spiritual.
Without a biblical framework for suffering, you’ll interpret every trial as either God’s abandonment or your failure.
Both conclusions are heretical!
Expect it to get worse.
The Preparation Nobody Wants
How do you circumvent this deficiency?
First, abandon the prosperity-adjacent gospel.
If your theology can’t handle cancer, bankruptcy, or betrayal, it’s not biblical theology.
Second, develop what Charles Spurgeon called “a theology of the dark night” in his sermons on Job.
Some suffering has no explanation this side of eternity. Job never got answers. He got God. Surrender to that truth.
Third, pray for and identify with the persecuted church. You may be in the same situation soon.
A priest in Nigeria was kidnapped and murdered on Ash Wednesday; 54 Christians were martyred on Palm Sunday (Catholic World Report). These aren’t just statistics. They are your brothers and sisters in Christ.
Your suffering isn’t a detour from God’s plan—it’s part of His providence from the beginning.
The Glory in the Suffering
Here’s the paradox American Christianity can’t bear:
The path to joy runs through sorrow.
The road to resurrection passes through crucifixion.
Nigerian Christians facing daily death threats still gather to worship.
Sudanese believers displaced by the millions still proclaim Christ.
Ethiopian converts, losing everything, still choose Jesus.
They understand what we’ve forgotten:
Suffering isn’t the exception in Christianity.
It’s the expectation.
Your suffering isn’t meaningless. It’s not random. It’s not punishment.
Until American Christians recover these categories and regain a proper perspective, we’ll remain spiritually anemic, theologically shallow, and existentially unprepared.
The question isn’t whether you’ll suffer.
The question is whether you’ll be shaped by the fire; or consumed by it.