You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
4 Have ye
suffered [pascho] so many things [tosoutos]
in vain [eike]? if it be yet [eige][kai] in vain. [eike]KJV-Interlinear
4 Did you
suffer so many things in vain — if indeed it was in vain? NASB
Here Paul asks if the Galatians had suffered the many things that they suffered, were they in vain, if indeed for nothing or for no purpose?
And particularly in this verse, the Galatians had been placed under the intense scrutiny from the traditional Jews, ridiculed, ostracized, gossiped against, boycotted and such things as people do to others in social settings, and especially in religious settings wherein one group tries to ruin or destroy those who did not agree with them.
On the one hand, the Galatian gentiles, had believed in Christ and had held to the teachings of Paul as they were properly taught. On the other hand, the traditional Jews were trying to make life miserable for them unless the gentiles agreed with and conformed with the traditional Jewish teachings of the Law.
And so, if you hold to the promises and teachings of truth, you will suffer in many respects for your beliefs, because the world rejects Christ, rejects grace, rejects faith in its truest sense.
You will be tempted or pressured into changing your views, and submitting to peer pressures whether as teens or adults, whether in your local church or community or work or business or social circles, even to the point of ostracism or intimidation making it seem like you will lose out on many normal activities if you do not change and conform to their standards.
This suffering is for truth and is a good form of suffering because one day, you will be vindicated at the resurrection and that vindication will continue forever. Your rewards will far surpass those of others, if indeed others are even there in heaven or even have rewards of any kind.
This of course presumes that you indeed view the blessings of eternity as far more valuable than anything you may have here in this life.
This suffering does not cause you to lose anything, especially when you stick to your spiritual guns and truth as you should. God provides everything for everyone, even those who reject Him. He certainly provides you with what is needed in order for you to maintain your focus and path toward spiritual maturity.
Now, on the other hand, anyone who rejects God and truth, regardless of how their life goes, will sooner or later endure suffering. Their suffering will be for naught. For when you reject truth, your costs in life gain you nothing and you end up with nothing.
So, suffering correctly for truth, enhances and accelerates your spiritual growth. This is an investment in gold, as it were, or something that has intrinsic value.
Now realize that suffering for good is not something that you actively pursue or do, it is merely the result of the differences between your thinking and that of the world.
You do not starve yourself, you do not beat yourself, you do not move out into the desert and live alone, you do not wear black only, refuse to dance, refuse to chew gum, and on and on with all sorts of 'works' activities. These are the things that the works crowd do.
While suffering for empty things is like investing everything in a sure loser, and then of course losing. This is an investment in stubble or in something of no value.
The traditional Jews were investing and gambling their entire eternal future on tradition and works, which are of no value. You cannot get a profit from something that has no value, especially when God is the ultimate and only buyer and rejects all, no value things.
The only good investment is truth and doctrine and your legitimate spiritual growth to maturity in which God places infinite value and accepts it without question. That is a sure winner.
