“I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” (1 Kings 19:14)

Regardless of your religious convictions, suffering is an equal opportunity tormentor. But it can be worse for a Christian when he has been duped into thinking he is exempt.

Christians regularly confess their sins, listen to sermons, and participate in Bible classes. We readily acknowledge that none of us deserves special attention because of our sinfulness.

Yet, as we carry our crosses, navigate the challenges of purity in a sinful world, and chart a course for extraordinary Christian service, we are especially shocked to find out that calamity can come to us.

On one level we readily acknowledge that sin is the great equalizer, making the worst and the best of us equally in need of grace and the Savior God provided. But when we look at our trajectory – measuring how far we have come and how close we are to a new level of service to the Lord – unexpected suffering hits us out of left field.

“I am planning to be a minister.” “I have put off having a family to go on the mission trip.” “I have faithfully served God, and now this!”

We have no need to debate the merits of these statements because it doesn’t really matter whether they are true or false. Our mistake is the presumption that faithfulness entitles us to a level of ease in this world surpassing those who reject God.

Remember what the disciples said,

[Paul and Barnabas returned,] strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. (Acts 14:22)

Paul had been stoned and left for dead when he said these words. This Roman empire was rounding up Christians like stray horses and throwing them to the lions for entertainment.

Like Elijah, these were people doing the right thing, proclaiming salvation in Christ, and spreading the Gospel. We think this work merits some sort of temporal reward, but this is not the place to be getting those rewards.

The world opposes God and is bound for destruction. Living our faith runs against the grain of a world trying to convince us that this is all we have.

But even when you face the prospect of death, you win. Jesus said,

“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.” (John 11:25)

The thief who died on the cross was, on that day, with Jesus in paradise (Luke 23:43). Moses and Elijah lived hundreds of years after they died to encourage Jesus at his transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-3). We have an eternal home, and this is not it. We do not look for an exemption in this world. Even when we do the right things, bad things can happen (1 Peter 2:20-21).

We should expect grief when we try to protect unborn lives in a world that feels they are expendable. We can expect persecution to stand for what is right and moral in a world that wants to do its own thing. But we were not made for this world, but for the one to come, where a place has been prepared for us (John 14:2). Expect suffering. Endure it because through Christ you have already beat it.