the fellowship of His sufferings

Phil 3:8-10
8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ,9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from {the} Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which {comes} from God on the basis of faith,10 that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;(NAS)

In these verses, Paul speaks of how our focus should be no on earthly things, but on Christ. Our goal should be to better know Jesus, His resurrection, and His suffering. Many times we don't quite understand this last one. Paul says to know the fellowship of His sufferings. The Greek word translated fellowship means partnership or participation. Not only are we to have a saving belief and understanding in the suffering of Christ, but we will suffer for Him. In my life, I have found that when I go through trials, that is when I draw the closest to God.

That was the majority of our lesson at youth group tonight. It was a good message, but I wasn't listening as well as I should have been, so when I got home, I decided to go through it again. Maybe I should make a habit out of doing that anyway. I think when we go through something more than once, we learn it much better.