Hair Shirt

Suffering is a natural state in a fallen world that will be inflicted--- not one to seek out. This is a fundamental difference in some believers. Those who put on a figurative hair shirt to display or develop their holiness by being set apart through suffering and misery by choice miss the fundamental beauty of Christ. He did not seek suffering. He met it when it came for Him, but He did not seek it out. If I jump off a ten story building for Jesus, I have given Him no glory despite either a whole lotta pain or the sacrifice of my life. If I accept the gifts and the trials that come with all rejoicing, then I am a pale reflection of Glory. And in the rejoicing, slowly the mind of Christ will be revealed.