No Pain No Gain

While running yesterday I was thinking about suffering. [OK, you non-runners can make jokes at this point.] I was actually coming down a big hill, cruising into pleasantly warm sunshine on a pleasantly cool morning. It was a very enjoyable hilly 5 miler, but I was thinking about suffering.

We don't care much for suffering, especially the kind that makes no sense or seems so unnecessary. It leads to frustration, disappointment, and anger, if we are not careful. Maybe there is another way to look at it? Maybe regardless of its source, we should see suffering, even its "light" form of frustration, as an opportunity to grow in our faith, to grow in our trust in God.

The Bible sure speaks a lot about suffering. Google it. There is a passage that came to me yesterday while running. It's not surprising it came to me, since I am getting ready to preach through 1 Peter. Here's what came to mind, 1 Peter 1:6,7, which talks about the glorious future, when all will be made right.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

The refiner's fire! It has to do with making gold pure, burning out the impurities. That's what trials are supposed to do with/for us. Sounds painful! And it is! I literally laughed out loud when I thought about it. We complain about stuff and how hard it is. Well, of course it is, and it hurts, because it's fire! Duh! Then I thought about pruning, as pictured in John 15. Having stuff cut off hurts! See a pattern here?

None of this new, but I need to be reminded. Maybe you do too?