Misconception #2 “Positive, ‘feel good’ experiences will transform my life and make me more like Christ.
Oh how I wish! A large American church recently did a poll that contained the following question. “Think about an era in your life when you felt like you were growing most spiritually. What factor most contributed to that growth?” In this simple survey the number one answer was overwhelmingly, “Pain!”
While we all enjoy “feel good” moments in life, the hardships and difficulties we experience are often the highest contributors to our transformation. Thus, the old adage “No pain, no gain” really is true. Because of the influence of our culture, many have bought into the fallacy that God’s primary function in this world is to produce as little discomfort in our life as possible. God is our God as long as things are going swell, yet when we hit some painful bumps along the journey we wonder why God has abandoned us. This type of thinking is simply not Biblical. The Bible teaches that while God is not the author of pain, He does allow us to experience pain. And, he uses the difficulties in life to help to chisel us into the kind of person that He desires us to become.
So, what is it specifically about the nature of pain that helps us to grow spiritually? Pain helps us to grow because it reminds us of two very important things in becoming like Christ. First, pain reminds us that we are vulnerable. Pain has a way of exposing the feeble, frail and finite side of life. Where there is little or no discomfort in life we can subtly begin thinking that we are invulnerable and in complete control in this world. I remember when my son Caleb was one and a half and learning to climb stairs. I still remember the little guy with pacifier in hand smiling and swaggering from the top step as if the forces of gravity had no control over him. Because he had no prior context of pain associated with falling, he actually thought he was invincible near the edge of those steps. The reality was that he was flirting with disaster. So, despite our constant warnings, our little blond-haired, blue-eyed Humpty Dumpty had his great fall. Fortunately for him, it was only from the third step, not the thirteenth! Of course, this painful incident reminded him that he’s only human after all. The painful bruises and bumps of life remind us that we are not ultimately in control. The pain that we experience in life helps us to grow in ways we never would without it. C.S. Lewis once penned that “God whispers in our pleasure and screams in our pain.”
Second, pain reminds us that we need outside assistance in order to become whole again. From the irritating toothache, to the crumbling marriage, painful experiences create within us a desire to seek outside help like nothing else. We've all heard the phrase, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Well, that proverb is has overly simplistic view of life. The reality is that much of life is broken, but we choose to live in denial of this reality. However, pain is like a slap in the face that wakes us up to the fact that all is not well. Pain is a reminder that we are broken and need of divine intervention to be made whole again.
As I write I think of my good friend Tim Young who suffers from chronic back problems that include constant surges of shooting pain that explode through his lower back down into his legs resulting in agonizing days and restless nights. The doctors prognosis is that little can be done to alleviate his discomfort. He recently shared with me that it is precisely his pain that has taught him to seek harder after God and to be sustained by Him on a moment by moment basis. Tim’s pain and discomfort in his life force Him to rely on God in ways he never would have dreamed before his accident. Tim reminds me of another man who was very familiar with pain: the apostle Paul. Paul talks openly about a “thorn in his flesh” that he struggled with in life (II Corinthians 12). In II Corinthians 12:10 Paul comes to the conclusion that “when I am weak, then I am strong”. In other words, through the weakness of our painful predicament we are reminded that we have the outside assistance of a God that’s promised to grant us what we need in our time of trouble and the grace to weather whatever difficulty life may throw at us.
Like it or not, pain has a big part to play in our spiritual transformation. St. Peter concurs. “Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God is not on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner” (I Peter 4:12-13 The Message). The pain you are experiencing today could very well be God's loving wake-up call for you to rouse you from your independence and wake you from your spiritual slumber, and ultimately to refine you into the person He has intended you to be.
Oh how I wish! A large American church recently did a poll that contained the following question. “Think about an era in your life when you felt like you were growing most spiritually. What factor most contributed to that growth?” In this simple survey the number one answer was overwhelmingly, “Pain!”
While we all enjoy “feel good” moments in life, the hardships and difficulties we experience are often the highest contributors to our transformation. Thus, the old adage “No pain, no gain” really is true. Because of the influence of our culture, many have bought into the fallacy that God’s primary function in this world is to produce as little discomfort in our life as possible. God is our God as long as things are going swell, yet when we hit some painful bumps along the journey we wonder why God has abandoned us. This type of thinking is simply not Biblical. The Bible teaches that while God is not the author of pain, He does allow us to experience pain. And, he uses the difficulties in life to help to chisel us into the kind of person that He desires us to become.
So, what is it specifically about the nature of pain that helps us to grow spiritually? Pain helps us to grow because it reminds us of two very important things in becoming like Christ. First, pain reminds us that we are vulnerable. Pain has a way of exposing the feeble, frail and finite side of life. Where there is little or no discomfort in life we can subtly begin thinking that we are invulnerable and in complete control in this world. I remember when my son Caleb was one and a half and learning to climb stairs. I still remember the little guy with pacifier in hand smiling and swaggering from the top step as if the forces of gravity had no control over him. Because he had no prior context of pain associated with falling, he actually thought he was invincible near the edge of those steps. The reality was that he was flirting with disaster. So, despite our constant warnings, our little blond-haired, blue-eyed Humpty Dumpty had his great fall. Fortunately for him, it was only from the third step, not the thirteenth! Of course, this painful incident reminded him that he’s only human after all. The painful bruises and bumps of life remind us that we are not ultimately in control. The pain that we experience in life helps us to grow in ways we never would without it. C.S. Lewis once penned that “God whispers in our pleasure and screams in our pain.”
Second, pain reminds us that we need outside assistance in order to become whole again. From the irritating toothache, to the crumbling marriage, painful experiences create within us a desire to seek outside help like nothing else. We've all heard the phrase, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Well, that proverb is has overly simplistic view of life. The reality is that much of life is broken, but we choose to live in denial of this reality. However, pain is like a slap in the face that wakes us up to the fact that all is not well. Pain is a reminder that we are broken and need of divine intervention to be made whole again.
As I write I think of my good friend Tim Young who suffers from chronic back problems that include constant surges of shooting pain that explode through his lower back down into his legs resulting in agonizing days and restless nights. The doctors prognosis is that little can be done to alleviate his discomfort. He recently shared with me that it is precisely his pain that has taught him to seek harder after God and to be sustained by Him on a moment by moment basis. Tim’s pain and discomfort in his life force Him to rely on God in ways he never would have dreamed before his accident. Tim reminds me of another man who was very familiar with pain: the apostle Paul. Paul talks openly about a “thorn in his flesh” that he struggled with in life (II Corinthians 12). In II Corinthians 12:10 Paul comes to the conclusion that “when I am weak, then I am strong”. In other words, through the weakness of our painful predicament we are reminded that we have the outside assistance of a God that’s promised to grant us what we need in our time of trouble and the grace to weather whatever difficulty life may throw at us.
Like it or not, pain has a big part to play in our spiritual transformation. St. Peter concurs. “Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God is not on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner” (I Peter 4:12-13 The Message). The pain you are experiencing today could very well be God's loving wake-up call for you to rouse you from your independence and wake you from your spiritual slumber, and ultimately to refine you into the person He has intended you to be.
1 comment:
Heath thanks for the depth and insight you bring to our church community.
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