Suffering

The Bible often talks about suffering. This can mean outward, physical suffering, but in the New Covenant it mostly means the suffering that happens when you say no to your own sinful lusts and desires and put them to death. It is an inner suffering (rather than a physical, outward one) that happens when you don’t do what your lusts and desires want – what the Bible in Galatians 5:24 also calls “crucifying the flesh (the sinful human nature) with its passions and desires.” (Romans 8:17; Philippians 3:10; Colossians 1:24; 1 Peter 4:1.)