SUFFERING FORGES DEEPER CHARACTER
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.
Romans 5:3-5 (NLT)
Suffering can make us bitter, but it can also make us better. One of the reasons I believe so deeply in the Bible is that its wisdom is so contradictory to the world’s wisdom. In earlier years, if you’d told me that pain and suffering can produce deeper character, I wouldn’t have believed it. However, I’ve witnessed this truth first-hand. Pain can transform us, but many transform their pain and suffering into something else. Sometimes it’s business, success, work or hobbies, or it can move to alcohol, pornography and fits of anger. God is far more interested in the people we become than the things we get done.
Read what Oswald Chambers says, Suffering either gives me to myself or it destroys me. You cannot find or receive yourself through success, because you lose your head over pride. And you cannot receive yourself through the monotony of your daily life, because you give in to complaining. You can always recognize who has been through the fires of sorrow and received himself, and you know that you can go to him in your moment of trouble and find that he has plenty of time for you. If you will receive yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you nourishment for other people.
Paul says something unique—pain is a pathway to deeper character. When we are transformed in suffering, we learn patient endurance. We understand how to withstand the heart of suffering without being destroyed in our pain. Not only that, we gain deeper character—the way that a goldsmith knew gold was purified was when he could see his reflection in it. Likewise, Paul shares that suffering allows us to let go of the impurities in our life so we reflect Christ all around us. Finally, he shares that we gain hope in suffering. We begin to understand that God is with us, and the very thing we thought would crush us creates deeper faith through the Spirit. You’ll only suffer for a season but have character for eternity. Sometimes God uses the temporary to prepare us for eternity. God specializes in taking broken, shallow, hopeless and immoral people and making us into mighty men and women of God. Suffering is one of the ways God does this. Don’t resist God. Let Him have His way with your life.
APPLICATION: God is far more interested in who you become than what you get done.
PRAYER: Look back at how previous times have created endurance, character and hope. Thank God for the ways He has strengthened your faith in those seasons.