Every trial you face is shaping you into Christ’s likeness, but the ultimate purpose is not your growth, but it’s God’s glory.
SHAUNA: This is Shauna, on Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. And here’s Joni with a few more words about God’s purposes in pain.
JONI: Last time we met, I was sharing how heartening it is for me to see at least some of the reasons why God allowed my diving accident. Back then, after a decade or so in my wheelchair, I could honestly observe that, hey, I was becoming more patient, less angry, more caring about others who hurt, and best of all, more content with a life of paralysis because I knew that better things were coming in the next life. It felt good to see that I was honestly changing; I was actually becoming a little bit more like Jesus as months went by – just a bit, but I could see it. And that to me was evidence [what do you know?] that all things really were fitting into a pattern for good in my life and for God’s glory. I was discovering that suffering can lead to Christian maturity. I was realizing that God does use hardships to improve our character, remove sinful habits, make us heaven-hearted, and instill compassion toward others; that’s just naming a few.
But here’s what I did not have a chance to say the last time we met – and this is pretty important. Discovering God’s answers and being able to see his reasons, his purposes behind your pain – no matter how good and how true those reasons and purposes are – all of it is not the end-all, be-all. A purified life should never be an end to itself – it should culminate in God. Stronger character is made muscular not for its own sake, but for God's sake. A livelier hope is more spirited because its focus is not on “things getting better,” but on God. Sure, all things fit together for our good, but the greater and more exalted focus is that it’s for God’s glory; all things fit together in a good way ultimately for God’s glory.
To forget this is to become way too me-focused in your trials; like, hey, look at my patience, look how caring I’ve become, look how I have changed; look at how my faith has deepened. Sure, it’s good that you’re more patient and caring, but if that’s all your focus is on, then in the long run, your faith is going to tarnish, your character is going to weaken, your hope will become deflated. As the Phillips’ paraphrase puts 2 Peter 1:8, “If you have these qualities [you know, qualities like patience, compassion, a strong faith], if you have these qualities existing and growing in you then it means knowing your Lord Jesus Christ has not made your life complacent or unproductive.” Friend, it really is all about knowing your Lord Jesus Christ. It’s all about Jesus. And 1 Corinthians 8 sums it up so neatly where it says, “There is for us but one God, one Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.” There you have it. It’s all about Jesus Christ – it is in him, and for him and through him that we live and change and grow and are made more mature by our trials.
Friend, we must never distance the Bible’s reasons from the God of the Bible. The problem of suffering is not about some thing that’s got to get solved, but it’s about someone. So it follows that the answers and reasons and purposes must not be something you can figure out, but someone – it should end in someone. The Bible never bids us to keep our eyes on suffering, or even suffering’s benefits. But only keep your eyes on God, the one who wrote the book on suffering. Consider the good and valued benefits for the hardship in your life. Can you say with the Apostle Paul, that you consider them rubbish that you might gain Christ? Today, don’t focus on your hardships or even whatever benefits might come from them. May your focus always and only be on our wonderful Savior.
© Joni and Friends