Armed for Suffering: Trading Comfort for Christ

If we’re honest, many of us live with a quiet assumption: if we’re doing things right, life should get easier. But what if the Bible says the exact opposite?

When you read the New Testament, especially 1 Peter, you’re confronted with a very different message. The Christian life isn’t a cocoon of comfort. It’s a call to the cross.

Peter writes: “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking…” (1 Peter 4:1)

Arm yourselves. Like soldiers preparing for war. But instead of gearing up for success, Peter says: get ready to suffer. And not just endure it. Embrace it. Even rejoice in it.

Our Comfort Addiction

We live in a comfort-obsessed world. Our culture puts comfort on a throne, and it’s easy for that mindset to sneak into our faith. Comfort can become an idol we worship without even realizing it.

We chase comfort like a drug - two-day shipping, heated seats, binge-watching on demand, voice assistants, apps for everything - until we start expecting God to make our spiritual lives just as effortless. But when comfort becomes king, faith grows fragile, and discipleship gets watered down.

We start thinking that a “blessed” life should be a comfortable one, so we avoid hard conversations, awkward moments, and risky obedience. We trade sacrifice for safety. But Jesus never promised ease - He promised a cross. Francis Chan put it this way: “We expect comfort, so we get stopped easily.”

But Scripture tells a different story.

Jesus said, “Take up your cross.” Paul wrote, “All who desire to live a godly life… will be persecuted.” Peter reminds us: “Don’t be surprised at the fiery trial.”

Suffering isn’t strange. It’s the plan.

Suffering Today Doesn’t Always Look Like Chains

So what does suffering look like for us, here and now? For many of us, suffering won’t mean prison or persecution. But it’s still real, and still costly.

In our context in the modern U.S., suffering might mean:

• Being misunderstood for your convictions

• Forgiving someone who doesn’t deserve it

• Loving when it costs you

• Showing up when no one else will

• Having hard, honest conversations, especially with people you care about, when silence would be easier

• Welcoming and accepting someone whose lifestyle, background, or appearance makes you uncomfortable - choosing love over judgment

These things don’t make headlines, but they’re part of the cost of discipleship. And if we’re not willing to suffer, we won’t follow Jesus for long.

Of course, there’s still real, intense suffering happening here at home and around the world - hunger, war, persecution - that challenges us to remember the full cost of following Christ. And while our daily struggles may feel smaller in comparison, they are still real opportunities to choose faith over fear, sacrifice over comfort, and Christ over convenience.

Comfort Kills Mission

One of Satan’s most effective tools isn’t persecution: it’s pampering us into passivity.

When we prioritize comfort:

• We won’t risk awkwardness to share the gospel.

• We’ll judge others instead of loving them where they are.

• We’ll silence difficult conversations instead of pursuing reconciliation.

• We’ll avoid the broken instead of embracing them.

• We’ll stay safe rather than sacrificial.

Evangelism and comfort don’t coexist. You can’t share the gospel from your comfort zone. If we want to reach people, we must cross the lines of our own comfort. Jesus did. He touched lepers. Ate with outcasts. Loved the unlovable. He never chose safety over souls.

Neither can we.

Suffering is the Path to Power

Peter says:

“Rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings… that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed.” (1 Peter 4:13)

This is the paradox of the gospel: suffering leads to joy. Pain produces endurance. Endurance grows character. And character gives birth to hope (Romans 5).

When we embrace suffering - not necessarily chasing it, but welcoming it - we grow deeper, love truer, and become more like Jesus.

The early church didn’t change the world through ease. They changed it through endurance. They weren’t unstoppable because they themselves were strong. They were unstoppable because they expected the cross.

So let me ask you, as I ask myself:

• Are you avoiding someone God is calling you to love because it’s hard?

• Are you staying silent because you’re scared?

• Are you holding back love because someone is different, politically, socially, economically, or spiritually?

• Are you keeping your distance from someone because the situation feels messy or complicated?

• Are you unwilling to re-engage someone who hurt you, even if God is calling you to grace?

• Are you choosing comfort over calling?

If so, trade it.

Trade your comfort for Christ.

Trade ease for endurance.

Trade convenience for courage.

Trade safety for the Savior who suffered for you.

The world doesn’t need more Christians chasing comfort. It needs more who are armed for suffering. More who are willing to carry a cross instead of chasing convenience. More who are ready to love, risk, serve, and speak, no matter the cost.

Discipleship was never meant to be comfortable or easy, but it was always meant to be powerful. So take up your cross. Don’t settle. Don’t stop. Arm yourself, and follow Him.

Until the journey is complete,

Jonathan Pilgrim

P.S. If this challenged you today, take a moment to ask God for the courage to trade comfort for calling. And remember, you’re not alone in the struggle. You’re part of a bigger story - one where faith is refined in fire, and forged in the footsteps of Christ.