We should not be surprised when hardships come and we should willingly embrace them for the gospel.  Chris Brannon continues in our 2 Timothy series by talking about establishing a healthy theology of suffering.  Hardship, trouble and suffering are woven into and integrated throughout scripture.  There are a long list of prominent Bible characters that we read about and they all have some sort of suffering in their lives.  Through all of our hardships, God is working through them to cultivate us in maturity to be more like Jesus.  To be a fruitful Christian, we must willingly suffer hardship for the gospel now in view of future rewards.

As Paul writes to Timothy, there are three different types of people that he compares to with suffering.  The first one is the soldier.  As a soldier, we leave the civilian life behind to live a new life of service.  The second is the athlete.  It is only by discipline that the athlete may compete and win.  The last one is the farmer.  This one seems more mundane, but the farmer works tirelessly to see the rewards at the end of the harvest.  Jesus is our ultimate example on how to embrace the hardships.