December 5, 2023

I Corinthians 9: 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. (NIV)

Human beings undergo goal-directed suffering quite willingly, as athletes and pregnant women can attest.*

Sports analogies are usually lost on me, but this one I get – in theory. If you want to be the best athlete in your sport of choice, you have to work at it. No pain, no gain, they say. And the very determined put themselves through some pretty grueling workouts – torture in my opinion. But they do it because they believe it’s worth it.

So why is it that we are so opposed to a little pain for the sake of spiritual gain? Why do we blame God for life’s hurts when what we’re facing is nothing but an intense training program designed to help us be the strongest and longest lasting in our field? If an athlete is willing to suffer for his sport, why aren’t we willing to suffer for the sake of our faith?

Did I imply that God causes our character-building suffering? I didn’t mean to. He allows suffering, and he uses it for our good, but the fact is, life is just painful. As Phillip Yancey writes: “We can safely say that God can bring good out of evil; we cannot say that God brings about the evil in hopes of producing good.”* 

We suffer because of our poor choices; we suffer because of the poor choices of others; we suffer because of sin in the world. But why waste it? Allow God to strengthen you through your adversity. Don’t suffer for nothing. Be a winner. Get a trophy that lasts forever!

We idolize comfort, and we are in danger of thinking pain to be worse than sin.*