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| "The Weight of the World" by jawavs [CC BY-ND 2.0] |
Suffering... Because God Loves Us
Rom 8:28 AMP We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.
2Co 4:15-18 AMP For all [these] things are [taking place] for your sake, so that the more grace (divine favor and spiritual blessing) extends to more and more people and multiplies through the many, the more thanksgiving may increase [and redound] to the glory of God. [16] Therefore we do not become discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is [progressively] decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day after day. [17] For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!], [18] Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting.
Most times, it's really hard to look for the blessings in our trials, especially while going through them. And yet, understanding that God is preparing us for something better, something "deathless and everlasting" is an incredible thought that's daunting on one hand, and completely liberating on the other.
We Are Not of This World
God is calling us out of this world to dwell with Him forever. The choices we make while we're here provide both access and determine reward of our hereafter, the invisible things that are deathless and everlasting. He's already prepared a place for us (John 14.13). He kicked the reason for hell existing out of heaven, and so He certainly will not allow us to dwell with Him if we have not shed the things off of us which got the original usurper exiled in the first place.
And, ladies and gentlemen, that is the real reason for life. It also explains why God sent Jesus - to show that we couldn't get it right, the Holy Spirit - to help us get it right, and His Holy servants - to show that, for those willing to do it His way, the right way, we can overcome and make it. This viewpoint is a bit simplistic, but completely reasonable in light of the fact that there are only two places to spend eternity: with God, or without Him.
Yes, trials and sufferings hurt. But after awhile, when we start look at our trials and suffering through the lens of the Word, we start to realize why it hurts. It's because we're dying to the desires of the flesh. Death pangs. Paul, the 2Cor 4.17 calls our sufferings light, momentary afflictions. In view of eternity, certainly true. We've gone through situations before that were extraordinarily painful and seemed to go on and on. But on this side of the trial, we find that it did have an ending, and as we draw closer to Christ, some often find peace and solace in understanding why they had to go through that thing. This happens as we learn to consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen (vs 18).
I looked around at my new apartment a few days ago, thought about my fiancé, my church and friends, and the things in my life, and for a moment I felt like I've made it. But there was a restless unsettled feeling in my gut, and over the next couple of hours, I just sat there and dwelt upon that feeling. And it eventually came to me, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? The unsettled feeling was a clear understanding that without constantly remembering that it was God who has provided all these things to me, the "everything" that I'd gained would be futile, empty, meaningless. And even worse, by coming to trust in them, I would only be setting myself up for a reservation in hell, away from God for eternity. In understanding this, I am able to count every trial a joy, as it makes manifest the things of my heart which would keep me from God.
Jas 1:2-4 AMP Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations. [3] Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience. [4] But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.
No, our trials, our sufferings are to make us ready for an eternity with God. If we understand that, then happy are we if we embrace our trials knowing that this is the pain that truly can bring gain.
Ecc 12:13-14 AMP All has been heard; the end of the matter is: Fear God [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is] and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man [the full, original purpose of his creation, the object of God's providence, the root of character, the foundation of all happiness, the adjustment to all inharmonious circumstances and conditions under the sun] and the whole [duty] for every man. [14] For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it is good or evil. [Matt. 12:36; Acts 17:30, 31; Rom. 2:16; I Cor. 4:5.]
