“For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake” (Philippians 1:29).
The path of the Christian pilgrim is not always perfumed with the odor of flowers; it is often clouded with the smoke of conflict. The course of the Christian life is not always along a quite, inland river of experience; it is frequently across the high, tempest-tossed billows of trial. Days of peace are followed by days of strife. Even our Savior’s year of public favor was followed by a year of fierce opposition. If we would reign with Jesus we must also suffer with Him.
D.O. Shelton
Better Than Gold (1926), page 67