Suffering exposes our true selves, pressing us up against the holy God.
What do your afflictions tell you about yourself?
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and those afflictions do have something to say about you. And the kind of person you are, I mean, at the core, at the root. In our highly technical world of Zoom and social media, it’s so easy to wear a mask, isn’t it, or project a certain image? And you don’t even need social media. Those years of COVID so isolated us, that they totally altered our social constructs. We became more reserved, more guarded, even sheltered. Many found comfort in that and, sadly, learned how to live life on the surface. But then? Along comes affliction!
A botched surgery. The pain of a knee replacement gone south. Arthritis in your thumb joint - that’s my husband’s nemesis. Or it could be migraines. Insomnia. Giving care to your stroke-surviving spouse that has you overwhelmed. I mean, I could go on here, listing more: your old Ford keeps needing repairs, your broken washing machine outruns its warranty, or you just lost everything on your hard drive. Suffering, affliction, it comes at us in all sizes; but no matter what the size, it always comes in one shape: the shape of a lemon. A lemon that God squeezes and, all of a sudden, the real you spurts out to the surface, all your sour peevishness. And suddenly, your afflictions have ripped off the mask and exposed the real you. And you find that you are not the paragon of virtue that you thought you were.
But that’s good. It is good that we face the reality of who we are at the core. Because we are all sinners, and our natural bent is toward bitterness, anger, frustration, and a sour disposition if things don’t go our way. Suffering doesn’t teach us about ourselves from a textbook, no, it exposes the true stuff of which we are made. In God’s hands, suffering becomes the tool that obliterates our sin and self-centeredness. True, we are left exposed, then, and naked and ashamed. We are left emptied of self. But then we are better able to be bonded to Christ. God uses suffering to expose and purge sin from our lives, strengthen our commitment to him, force us to depend on grace. Suffering binds us together with other believers, it produces discernment, fosters sensitivity, disciplines our minds. It teaches us how to spend our time wisely, or stretch our hope, or cause us to know Christ better. Suffering makes us long for truth, it leads us to repentance of sin, it teaches us to give thanks in times of sorrow, it increases faith, and it can strengthen character.
Suffering always goes below the surface, sandblasting us to the core. It brings us into a new relationship with ourselves and with others. It’s also a trusting place, bringing us into a new relationship with God. When pain and problems press you up against a holy God, guess what collapses? You've got it. The selfishness that your pain unmasks. The pride or the pettiness that your problems reveal. Look, I’ve been there, and in lots of ways, I am still there! ‘Cause I’ve got a long way to go, and that sandblasting in my life won’t cease until the dross goes, the ambitions vanish, and everything that sets itself up against others and God disappears. Oh, friend, the beauty of being stripped down to the basics is that God can then fill you with himself. Sin is removed and the saint is built up: "Christ in you, the hope of glory." So what does your suffering say about you? I just bet those sufferings say that you are on your way to becoming like Christ.
© Joni and Friends