End of Sin

“Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;” (1Pe 4:1 AV)

The suffering of which Peter speaks is suffering for the sake of others.  This is not suffering in general.  Sometimes, suffering can have the opposite effect.  Our suffering may lead to sin and not away from it.  When my shoulder was at its worst, I was in such pain it changed my personality.  I was impatient, frustrated, and angry.  All the time.  I had never felt pain like this before.  It drew me to sin and not away from it.  Note the suffering Christ suffered above.  He suffered for us in the flesh.  No doubt, Jesus suffered in other ways too.  He suffered being human when He was also divine.  He suffered hunger and thirst as any normal human being would.  He suffered at the loss of His good friend John the Baptist.  Jesus was tempted in all points as we are.  The suffering which we bring liberty from sin is suffering for the sake of others.

Suffering for others is not something we naturally do.  Suffering for others is something we will do if there is an emergency or if it is a duty.  Like a mother who goes without sleep for the sake of her small child, we will sacrifice because we must.  But to sacrifice because we desire to is something completely different.  This takes suffering to a whole different level.  When Jesus Christ suffered for all of us, He did so as a matter of free choice.  His prayer in the garden of Gethsemane suggests the human side of Jesus and the divine person of the Son were having a battle.  The Father asked the Son to suffer and die for all of mankind prior to creating anything.  It was that willingness to be the propitiation of our sin that was the cause for creation to begin with.  If the Son of God was not willing to die for mankind, mankind would never have been created.  There would have been no cause for it.  All of mankind would have been thrown into a devil’s hell for all of eternity.  When it was decided Jesus would suffer and die, it was decided because He chose to willingly do so when He was not obligated to do so.  Outside of the Father asking the Son to die for mankind, there was no pressing need for it.  God could simply have chosen to not create.

The suffering of Jesus was a free choice of His own will.  He chose to do the will of the Father.  It is this level of suffering that keeps us from sin.  Why?  Because at that moment of suffering, we are thinking of others and not of ourselves.  Our desires are obliterated because someone else needs what we have or can do far worse than we want what we do not need.  When we put others first, we become last.  Opportunity must present itself.  It is hard to seek out these times and if we did, we would only be doing so for selfish reasons.  We would not suffer for the sake of others with a pure heart.  We would use this suffering as a way to free self.  It would become a self-righteous way to be righteous.  Rather, we need to ask the LORD to open our eyes and present opportunities to be selfless for the sake of others.  We need to ask the LORD to send our way people who are in far more desperate need than we are.  We need to ask the LORD to bring to us that which He brought to Jesus.  An opportunity to suffer deeply for the sake of another.  Then we can be free from sin with a pure heart.