Catholic Presbyterian

In a recent chat with a friend who had just broken up with her bf, i was made privy to the kind of spiritual formation the Church is implicitly catechising Her children in. This sister was grieving over the recently broken relationship. She then expressed to me how she knew she that she was in sin for not clinging to God in that moment, as though grieving and clinging to God were antithetical? It grieved me to see this sister in such pain, yet all she could worry about in the midst of it was if she was "slipping" into sin or not. This habit, I fear, is deeply ingrained in the piety of many in the evangelical Church in America. We have been taught that the Christian is always to be doing "well", not good "well". Don't believe me, walk up to a Christian on Sunday and ask them "how are you?" 9 times out of 10, without any consideration of reality, they will give the answer that they have been sociologically Catechised to give..."I'm doing Well..." and then immediately deflect the question back to the other person in like manner. This is an informal heresy that we as Christians have embraced, that i have chosen to call the theology of non-suffering. It goes something like this: Jesus suffered one time for all, Christians experience the application and benefits of that one time suffering by faith, and in that relationship between us and God we are being sanctified(with the emphasis on the fact that we are still sinners yet at the same time Justified), therefore we will suffer because we are still sinners, but that suffering has no real purpose to God, us or others, because the only suffering that really means anything already happened 2000 years ago on the cross, and to say that I'm suffering now, well that just doesn't compare therefore I'm doing "well". It usually manifests itself in a pious sounding response like "its nothing compared to Calvary" or something to that effect. This is really a stoic-no real meaningful response to pleasure or pain- pendulum response that at its core fatally flaws our Christian worldview. Beloved I encourage you to look to your union with Christ and see that the sufferings that you experience now have infinite value. We are the Body, He is our head. No disciple is greater than His master, we must desire to take up our cross and follow Him daily weeping all the way to the mount of death if necessary. Our sufferings are united with Christ's, as the rest of the human reality is as well thanks to the incarnation. Our temptations, joys, weaknesses, and love is all in union with Him. Let us suffer and not sin. Let us be joyful and not sin. Let us live our sufferings through Him, with Him, and in Him.