I’m reading through Acts a little bit each morning. This morning I was in Acts 5 where Peter and the apostles were put in jail, miraculously escaped, and then were questioned by the religious leaders. After the religious leaders questioned them, the let them go, but only after flogging them. It was after all of this that I came to verse 41 which says:
“The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.” (NIV, Acts 5:41)
At first when I read it, I took it as one of those generic “endure suffering” verses. I don’t like that we are to endure suffering for him, but I accept it as best I can. I guess I think of physical suffering first when it comes to these verses. In my life, it means things breaking around my house, sickness, stress, etc . . . . Then, I read it again and noticed that word DISGRACE. Now disgrace is a totally different thing. They were publicly humiliated and seen as unfit for society by these leaders. Yet, it didn’t seem to bother them. They rejoiced!! It seemed that they were prepared for this and possibly looking forward to it. I’m not there. Lord, help me to be willing to suffer disgrace with the courage that the apostles had.