"Suffer" means "allow"

A perfect synonym for "suffer" is "allow." When we take out the pain and sorrow of "suffer" and simply replace it with "allow," we get a whole new meaning of the Scriptures. For example, we understand that Jesus was perfect and sinless, but what made this so? I always imagined Him with His siblings at the dinner table to be like my family. His little sister says, "Oh Jesus, you think you're so perfect!" And He says, "Yep!" with a smug grin. And He would be right, but this sort of perfection is not definable. It is the "perfection" of pride, the "I'm right, I'm good, I don't need to grow or change," sort of perfection.

Jesus, in reality, was just the opposite. Humble perfection is doing exactly the will of God, submitting our own will to His. This is what Jesus did, as He explained to the Nephites:

"And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning." (3 Nephi 11:11)

How wonderful it is to have the Book of Mormon and be able to know about Christ after His resurrection! This scripture is a good example. If we take the word "suffered" and use instead the synonym "allowed" it reads:

"And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have [allowed] the will of the Father in all things from the beginning."

The first tells us about the pain He experienced, and the fact that it was painful, bitter, and hard. However, the second gives us insight into other things.

Without sin

"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews 4:15)

We speak of Jesus being without sin, but what, exactly, does that mean?

"I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." (John 5:30)

Jesus is the perfect example of how to live because He never sought his own will, but rather allowed the will of the Father in all things in His life. He did this out of love for us, which love is charity.

"And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men." (1 Nephi 19:9)

 

Again, replacing each of the words "suffer" with "allow" we get:

"And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he [allows] it; and they smite him, and he [allows] it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he [allows] it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men."

He had a will, separate from the Father. He did not want to suffer. He didn't want to drink the bitter cup, but He did. It wasn't self-imposed suffering. He didn't create it, He only allowed it, as demonstrated in the Garden of Gethsemane.

"And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." (Matthew 26:39)

The analogy here is incredible. If it's bitter, He could spit it out. How much more submissive could He be than to willingly drink what is bitter to the taste? Swallowing is willingness.

We just completed the circle. The events from this point we know. He willingly drinks the bitter cup, submits to die on the cross after allowing torture and humiliation, is buried in a tomb, rises from the dead, and visits the Nephites at the Temple in Bountiful to tell them: "I have suffered the will of the Father."

Follow Him

We follow Christ when we allow the will of the Father in our own lives, when we are "willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon [us]." (Mosiah 3:19) This is truly putting our trust in the Lord. We naturally seek our own will, instead of His, making us inherently evil, as King Benjamin points out:

"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." (Mosiah 3:19)

The words used here are indicative of how we become saints:

Yields

Putteth off

Submissive

Meek

Humble

Patient

Love

Willing

Submit

Inflict

It is through the atonement of Christ that we can become saints. He is our example. We follow what He did. We submit to the will of God in all things. This means we allow chastisement and we allow evil to exist, as He explained:

"But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.

And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain." (Matthew 5:39-41)

If to suffer is to allow, then allowing evil is literally what it means to be a true follower of Jesus Christ, a saint. Knowing that there is a plan made by God, and we follow His plan, instead of interjecting our own, "better," plan.

The sin of prevention

Lucifer had a "better" plan. He would prevent all suffering, pain, and sorrow by taking away the agency of man. Everyone would be obedient and do the will of the Father in all things, just like Jesus, but without the "willing" part. Submitting reluctantly is not giving the heart to God, it is just doing it by force. There are many in the world who try to enforce or follow the plan of Satan. Whenever power is gained "it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion." (D&C 121:39) They do this by pitting their will against the will of God, striving to put things right, as they see it.

When we try to prevent the will of the Father it is a sin. Whenever we insist upon our own way in anything, it is sin. There are many things that seem wrong that we try to put right: the death of a child, injustice, hate, pain, death, misery, and all the evils of the world. Yet, we are told that we are on the Earth to be tested, with what? Exactly that evil we think we want to abolish. God has a plan. His work is not like ours. We build sand castles all day, and fight and play with the other kids in the sandbox. However, He says, "this is my work and my gloryto bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses 1:39) This is necessarily done by experiencing, and allowing, evil in our own lives.

Absorb evil

As a physician I deal with a lot of people who are in pain. Almost always, they are trying to get out of pain. Michael Jackson was one of those, and it eventually killed him. I find that when people try to use drugs to abolish all pain they have two problems: 1. The side-effects of the drugs, and 2. More pain. They only get minutes to hours of semi-relief with the drugs saying, "it makes it tolerable," but suffering much more in the long run.

How can we deal with pain? Follow Jesus: suffer it. Allow it. Experience it to the fullest. Drink the bitter cup willingly. When we feel pain, we allow it. We submit to it. We feel it completely and get all the way around it. We know it, and love it for what it is -- the motivation to change, to repent, and to become free. Pain allows us to feel joy. Lehi explains:

"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my first-born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility. Wherefore, it must needs have been created for a thing of naught; wherefore there would have been no purpose in the end of its creation. Wherefore, this thing must needs destroy the wisdom of God and his eternal purposes, and also the power, and the mercy, and the justice of God." (2 Nephi 2:11-12)

If there is no cold, there is no hot. If there is no darkness there is no light. If there is no death, there is no life. Life is choice, and if you have nothing to choose, you have no life. Moreover, if there is no pain, there is no joy. We actually can only experience joy to the extent that we have felt pain. If you want the greatest joy, you must be willing to experience the greatest sorrow. Again, Jesus is our example.

"He that ascended up on high, as also he descended below all things, in that he comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth;" (D&C 88:6)

Our Eternal life, joy and happiness depends on us comprehending all things through experience. Jesus shows us the way by allowing the will of God, even when it means suffering and pain, and submitting willingly and completely. Our only concern on Earth, therefore is to understand what is the will of God for us in our lives -- and suffer it.