Those considered "young": Have you ever had someone say to you, "When you go through suffering, you will understand what it means in James...counting it joy." Or something to that effect, implying that as a young person you have not suffered. For most of us this is true, but it is also true for most anyone who says that statement, if they are here in America.
There are not age-levels of suffering (there are levels...just not age appropriate). One of my friends in Minnesota lost her brother and mom within weeks of each other. Both suddenly. She is my age, so age does not determine level or severity. The elderly cannot say to the young, you haven't felt, seen, experience nothing yet! If they do, the young can say back, "Well, neither have you truly." Suffering is suffering. Period.
For some (believers in the finished work of Christ) death is not merely end of life, but the end of suffering. Is that acceptable thinking? Jesus thought that way (Hebrews 12:1-4). There is joy set ahead of those suffering, like the second marshmallow in the classroom. Its coming. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "This is the end, for me the beginning of life."
To truly suffer is to be apart from God, the Father. And all mankind has felt this. So can we say to the guy next to us, "You haven't seen suffering yet?" (not saying that we should not have compassion on those suffering severely...esp. life-altering suffering)
So while you are apart from this invisible God, endure your allotted "suffering," until you see Him face to face. Hurry, Lord.
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