Discouragement, a Cure

What discourages you as a Christian? You can look at it in a few ways. One, you could say that you are discouraged because you fail to think about the truth, such as your position in and future with Jesus Christ. That remains true during whatever you face on earth. This really is a choice to be discouraged by a refusal to think about the truth. You have the truth to think about, but instead you think about a lie. It just seems bad to you. It’s not bad. It seems bad. Even if you are suffering, scripture says you don’t need to treat it as suffering if you are suffering for righteousness sake. 1 Peter 3:14 says, “But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye.” “Ye suffer” is a rare optative mode in the New Testament. There are only 68 in the entire New Testament. It treats the suffering like it isn’t really happening. Key here is treating it like it is nothing. The way you do this, I believe, is by projecting yourself forward to eternity by faith and then considering the suffering to be a reward. You’re suffering for the right reason, so like it and consider it not to be suffering. That’s the point Peter is making. He uses the optative, which treats the action as unlikely. It isn’t possible or probably, but unlikely. It’s as if the suffering doesn’t exist. It is not viewed as suffering, but as an opportunity for blessing. A first way to stop discouragement is changing your thinking.