Counted Worthy: Rejoicing in Suffering for Christ
By Empowering Everyday Women Online
Credit: Milko/Getty
At a Glance:
Why Suffering Isn’t a Setback: How early believers turned pain into purpose and why it still matters.
When Obedience Gets Costly: The real meaning behind “we must obey God rather than human beings.”
Joy That Makes No Sense: What it looks like to rejoice when following Jesus gets hard.
We don’t like to talk about suffering. Most of us would rather pray it away, sidestep it, or pretend it’s a sign we’ve done something wrong.
But Scripture tells a different story, one where suffering isn’t the enemy, and endurance isn’t just survival, but a kind of victory. Acts 5:17–42 gives us a front-row seat to this truth, showing what it really means to be “counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.”
These aren’t just ancient words. They’re a radical invitation for every believer today.
True Christian endurance means choosing obedience and joy, even when faithfulness brings hardship or rejection. Credit: Milko/Getty
Jerusalem: A Flashpoint for Faith
Picture the scene: Jerusalem, still buzzing and unsettled after the resurrection. Rome is in charge. The Sanhedrin, stacked with Sadducees and Pharisees, runs the show spiritually and socially. Into this tight, anxious world step the apostles. They’re telling anyone who’ll listen that Jesus, who was crucified and buried by the authorities, now is alive, exalted, and reigning as both Prince and Savior (v. 31).
The message wasn’t just controversial; it was explosive.
The very people who sentenced Jesus now hear His name thundered in the streets and the temple. The Sadducees, who didn’t even believe in resurrection, see their influence slipping as crowds gather around the apostles’ teaching and miracles. Jealousy simmers. The crackdown comes fast: the apostles are arrested and locked up.
But God interrupts the religious establishment’s plans.
When Heaven Breaks the Rules
That night, an angel opens the prison doors. Freedom comes with a directive: “Go, stand in the temple courts and tell the people all about this new life” (v. 20).
It’s bold. It’s risky. But it’s obedience—civil disobedience, in fact, commissioned by Heaven itself. The next day, when the authorities try to silence them, Peter answers for all time: “We must obey God rather than human beings!” (v. 29).
The gospel, in their mouths, isn’t just a comfort; it’s a confrontation. It challenges systems, upends expectations, and draws a line of allegiance that’s sharper than we’re often comfortable with.
The Joy of Suffering
The apostles are flogged: beaten and bloodied for preaching Christ. You’d expect fear, maybe silence. Instead, they leave the council “rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name” (v. 41).
Why joy?
Because Jesus had already told them: “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven” (Matthew 5:11–12). Their wounds became reminders of their belonging; their pain, a sign of their purpose.
They didn’t retreat. They didn’t nurse their wounds in secret. “Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah” (v. 42).
Their suffering didn’t shut them up; if anything, it turned them up and made their witness ring louder.
For Us, Right Now
We may never stand before the Sanhedrin, but faithfulness to Jesus still costs something. Maybe it looks like being overlooked at work, misunderstood by family, brushed off by friends, or facing the slow burn of cultural pushback. The question isn’t whether suffering will come, but what story we’ll tell with our response.
The apostles model the way forward, which looks like this: obedience, even when it’s unpopular; conviction, when comfort beckons; and joy, when self-pity would be easier.
Suffering for Christ isn’t a failure or a punishment. It’s evidence that we’re united with Him, walking the same path He walked.
Remember Isaiah’s prophecy: He was “despised and rejected”—and yet, through His suffering, brought salvation to the world (Isaiah 53:3).
So if you find yourself rejected, misunderstood, or maligned for loving Jesus, don’t shrink back. Don’t trade your testimony for comfort or applause. Rejoice. Not because the pain is easy, but because Heaven sees and says, You are counted worthy to suffer for the Name.
A Prayer:
God Our Father, please give me the courage to choose obedience over approval, conviction over comfort, and joy even in the midst of hardship. Strengthen to me keep loving, keep serving, and keep speaking Your truth, no matter the cost. Use my life, my wounds, and my witness to bring glory to Your name and hope to those around me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
More on EEW Magazine Online:
