Did Jesus have gout?

What should I feel when I lose my cell phone, my printer breaks or I have a car accident? What if i sink a 10 ft putt and win the Club Championship? Jesus didn't experience any of those circumstances.

At first glance you might think this is a bit sacrilegious. Not my intent!
I really just want to provoke you to think about an important concept that is almost always misunderstood. But when it is understood properly, it can be life changing, at least it was for me.

I find many Bible studies take an approach to suffering that is not helpful to "walking in the Spirit". When the focus on suffering uses the disruption or discomfort of the circumstance as the framework for suffering, then the wrong meaning of suffering leads us to see the Christian life more in a "grin and bear it" reality. 

I have a past blog that clearly describes the many Greek words in Scripture that translates into the word "suffer". Its worth a read

http://profoncall.blogspot.com/2011/06/making-sense-of-suffering.html

Even worse, when believers are actually predisposed to their human nature and not Grace, suffering is putting strain on or denying faith, not using or relying on it. For instance, platitudes like this one, that feel really good to us, appeal to our human nature, setting us up for some "stinkin thinkin".

When we have a core assumption that life seeks equilibrium, that we reap what we sow, that what you give you get back, when we have a difficult circumstance in our life, we instinctively feel that we deserve it. That we are being paid back for our sin. Human nature cannot make sense of life without the lenses of reward/punishment, reciprocity, reaping and sowing. How does this Chinese Proverb square with this Kingdom principle, "Do not fear little flock for the Father has chosen gladly to give you His Kingdom"? Without us even knowing it, our human nature trumps Grace in how we make sense of suffering.

Let me explain it the way human psychology would say it (all truth is God's truth). 

When a person encounters an event, felt emotions result in the person.

If the felt emotion is negative, the individual must do something with the emotion. One option is to suppress or deny the emotion so that the behavioral response is not inappropriate. So, if the individual feels anger, he/she may "stuff" the anger so that he/she does not do something to lash out at another person (anger management) or the person may convince him/herself that they are not angry because anger is a sin. This response to anger does not produce joy, while it does present a "righteousness" to others. The person eventually feels stress or resentment or some other emotion that can be destructive to the person.

The more productive option is called "reappraisal". This is actually thinking about the situation in a different way as to not even feel the negative emotion. If we understand that the Biblical reference to "suffering" is not what we may have been led to believe, we see suffering is not about the negative feeling or pain or discomfort associated with the circumstance. As I explain in my blog, the word for "suffering" most used in Scripture means the "emotional content of an experience". It does not refer to whether the feeling is positive or negative.

"Partaking in the sufferings of Christ" literally means having the same emotion that Jesus had to circumstances. His emotions were perfectly aligned with God's view of his life. He was exalted by people on Palm Sunday. He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness. He didn't suppress or deny negative feelings. He was sad sometimes, even agonized when He knew he would be separated from His Father. He understood that "good" was not determined by how the circumstance met a self-serving need. All circumstances were "good" because they were "of God".

When I learned every circumstance is "good" because it exists for me to play out in faith what God has put in me within the context of His-Story, many negative felt emotions like resentment went away. They didn't have to be denied or suppressed.

Reappraisal of our circumstances changes our felt emotions regardless of the nature of the circumstance. We feel the joy of Christ when the circumstances create pain or discomfort. We feel the joy of Christ when we get a promotion or find out we are going to have a child. I can be content in all things. Why? 

BECAUSE reappraisal is repentance, a change in thinking ...