Perseverence in Suffering

I once heard it said that suffering will either pull you closer to Christ or push you further away.  Tabletalk addresses this in today's reading.

Persevering faith is the type of faith required for salvation.  It is easy to have a fleeting and false trust in the Lord when things are going well for us.  Authentic faith, however, endures even in the most difficult circumstances of life, moving us to trust God even when we are at our wits' end (Matt. 13:18-23; Heb. 11).

Our time here on earth will be filled with trials, tribulation, and suffering.  This is true whether you belong to Christ or not.  But those who truly belong to Christ are able to endure sufferings because of the "faith required for [their] salvation."  The reason for this persevering faith is that we who belong to Christ have hope in the words of our Savior:

Matthew 25:31-40 (ESV) ³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? ³⁸ And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? ³⁹ And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’