Verse 25

He chose to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

Other Translations

Referenced Verses

  • Ps 84:10 : 10 Behold our shield, O God, and look with favor upon Your anointed.
  • Job 20:5 : 5 that the triumph of the wicked is short-lived, and the joy of the godless lasts only a moment?
  • Job 36:21 : 21 Be careful not to turn to iniquity, for you have preferred this to affliction.
  • 2 Cor 5:17 : 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
  • Col 1:24 : 24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, which is the church.
  • 2 Thess 1:3-6 : 3 We always ought to give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is fitting, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of each one of you for one another is increasing. 4 As a result, we ourselves boast about you among the churches of God for your endurance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. 5 This is evidence of God's righteous judgment, so that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. 6 Since it is just for God to repay those who trouble you with affliction,
  • 2 Tim 1:8 : 8 So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me, His prisoner. Instead, join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God.
  • 2 Tim 2:3-9 : 3 Endure hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the affairs of civilian life; instead, they strive to please the one who enlisted them. 5 Also, if anyone competes as an athlete, they do not receive a victor's crown unless they compete according to the rules. 6 The hardworking farmer should be the first to partake of the crops. 7 Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. 8 Remember Jesus Christ, who was raised from the dead, descended from David, according to my gospel. 9 For this gospel I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. 10 For this reason, I endure all things for the sake of the elect, so they also may obtain salvation in Christ Jesus, along with eternal glory.
  • 2 Tim 3:11-12 : 11 You know my persecutions and sufferings—what happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra—the persecutions I endured. But the Lord delivered me from all of them. 12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
  • Heb 4:9 : 9 Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God.
  • Heb 10:32 : 32 Remember those earlier days after you had been enlightened, when you endured a hard struggle with suffering.
  • Heb 11:37 : 37 They were stoned, they were sawed in two, and they were killed with the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted, and mistreated.
  • Jas 1:20 : 20 For human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
  • Jas 5:5 : 5 You have lived luxuriously on the earth and indulged yourselves. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
  • 1 Pet 1:6-7 : 6 In this you rejoice greatly, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more valuable than gold that perishes though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
  • 1 Pet 2:10 : 10 Once, you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once, you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
  • 1 Pet 4:12-16 : 12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15 If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. 16 However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.
  • Rev 18:7 : 7 As much as she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, give her that much torment and grief, because in her heart she says, 'I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and I will never see grief.'
  • Isa 21:4 : 4 My heart staggers; terror overwhelms me. The twilight I longed for has been turned into trembling for me.
  • Isa 47:8-9 : 8 Now hear this, you pleasure-loving one, sitting securely, who says in her heart, 'I am, and there is no one besides me; I will not sit as a widow, or know the loss of children.' 9 But these two things will come upon you in a moment, in one day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, despite your many sorceries and the great power of your spells.
  • Matt 5:10-12 : 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
  • Matt 13:21 : 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
  • Luke 12:19-20 : 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take it easy, eat, drink, and be merry.”' 20 But God said to him, 'Fool! This very night your soul will be required of you, and the things you have prepared—who will they belong to?'
  • Luke 16:25 : 25 But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here, and you are in agony.'
  • Acts 7:24-25 : 24 When Moses saw someone being mistreated, he came to his defense and avenged the oppressed man by striking down the Egyptian. 25 Moses assumed that his brothers would understand that God was using him to deliver them, but they did not understand.
  • Acts 20:23-24 : 23 'Except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that chains and afflictions await me.' 24 'But I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus—to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.'
  • Rom 5:3 : 3 Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance.
  • Rom 8:17-18 : 17 If we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings so that we may also share in His glory. 18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.
  • Rom 8:35-39 : 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: 'For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither powers, neither things present nor things to come, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
  • Ps 47:9 : 9 God reigns over the nations; God is seated on His holy throne.
  • Ps 73:18-20 : 18 Surely, You place them on slippery ground; You cast them down to destruction. 19 How suddenly they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors! 20 Like a dream when one awakes, so, Lord, when You arise, You will despise their image.
  • Job 21:11-13 : 11 They release their young like a flock, and their children skip about. 12 They sing to the tambourine and lyre and rejoice to the sound of the flute. 13 They spend their days in prosperity, and in a moment they go down to Sheol.