Q137_090126 Rom. 8:17 Our Faith-Choice: Suffer Alone Or Suffer With ChristQ137_090126 Rom. 8:17 Our Faith-Choice: Suffer Alone Or Suffer With Christ
How it Happens with Colin Cook
Colin Cook reflects on Romans 8:17, contrasting suffering alone with suffering with Christ and applying this to addiction and its painful consequences. He challenges the idea of earning salvation through pain and reframes hardship as a place of fellowship, love, and shared suffering with Christ.
14:48•1 Sept 2026
Suffer Alone or With Christ? Faith, Addiction and Romans 8:17
Episode Overview
- Suffering is unavoidable in a fallen world; the real choice is whether to suffer alone or to suffer with Christ by faith.
- The idea that self-chosen suffering earns salvation or pleases God is rejected as contrary to the message of the gospel.
- Suffering with Christ means identifying with him, especially in his loving a world that often rejects him.
- Consequences of addiction, such as lost jobs, finances, relationships, or health, can be seen by faith as sharing in Christ’s suffering rather than as punishment.
- Paul’s words about being hard-pressed yet not crushed highlight that hardship, for the believer, is a place of fellowship with Christ, not a sign of rejection.
“The question before us is not whether to suffer or not, but whether to suffer with Christ or to suffer alone.”
He challenges the idea that you have to suffer to earn God’s favour, calling it a “pagan idea” and stressing that “that is not the message of the gospel.” Instead, he highlights a different kind of choice: “The question before us is not whether to suffer or not, but whether to suffer with Christ or to suffer alone.” You’ll hear him unpack the difference between suffering *for* Christ and suffering *with* Christ, and how that shift in perspective can change the way someone experiences addiction, consequences, and shame.
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This episode of *How it Happens with Colin Cook* heads straight into that question by linking addiction, suffering, and faith in a very down-to-earth way. Drawing from Romans 8:17, Colin looks at what it means to be “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” while still living in a world of pain, relapse, and loss.
Colin ties this to real-life struggles—losing jobs, health, finances, or relationships because of addiction—and reframes these hardships as a place of fellowship with Christ rather than punishment from God. There’s also a powerful picture of what it looks like to share in Christ’s suffering by loving others sacrificially, including an example of a woman who cared for people in extreme poverty, serving them regardless of their religion.
Colin connects this to everyday life, suggesting that you don’t need to travel anywhere grand to share in that kind of love; you’ll face plenty of chances in ordinary relationships and circumstances. Grounded in scripture and honest about his own shortcomings, Colin offers a faith-based lens for anyone dealing with addiction or heavy regret. If suffering is part of the deal either way, could seeing it as “fellowship” rather than punishment change how you carry it today?
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