II Corinthians 1:7 “And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.”
Is Jesus Christ worth “suffering” for?! Is His Gospel worth “suffering” for? Is His Church worth “suffering” for? Our “sufferings” do not make Christ our Savior and do not obtain or secure our Eternal Salvation; but, when we endure “sufferings” with pleasantness and good hope, our “sufferings” are a living and worshipful testimony of our faith in God, our love for our Savior, and our belief in His Holy Word. Here, Paul told the Corinthian Brethren, “our hope of you is stedfast”; that is, we have seen evidence of your faith and we believe that our Lord will hold you up and deliver you through your present “sufferings”. It seems that they were “partakers of the sufferings” for the cause of Christ; they probably endured severe persecution because they believed and worshiped God in the Name of Jesus Christ our Savior. But, Paul leaves this passage open to include any “sufferings” that would hinder our worship. It is most clear that our current “sufferings” under the plague of the Coronavirus can hinder our worship. But, my “hope of you is stedfast” that “you” all are praying, reading your Bibles, and a great many of “you” met on the internet for Church yesterday. By the grace and mercy of our Almighty God, we are not going to allow this present evil to stop our Worship of our Lord Who so severely suffered and gave His Blessed Life to pay our miserable sin debt!