Fixed vs Growth: The Challenge of Pain and Suffering

Modern Christian mythology says that Christians don’t suffer; that suffering is for people who have sinned and are being punished, whose faith is weak or who have been rejected by God.  This mythology further states that wealth, happiness and success are marks of God’s favor, proof of salvation.  This way of thinking is not only completely unbiblical, it is destructive to faith, devastating to those who are struggling and suffering, and creates a spiritual snobbery in those whose lives are materially easier, allowing them to look down on the less fortunate.  This mythological thinking confuses life on earth with life in heaven.  We are promised blessed release from all sin and suffering when we are united with Christ in eternity (see Revelation 22).  We are declared righteous children of God in Christ, but the bible is clear that life on earth will be a struggle in the meantime.  In a way, this Christian mythology is “fixed mindset” thinking.  It denies the need for growth in Christian maturity; it sees struggles and sufferings as failures and therefore as denial of the reality of our salvation in Christ. 

Someone with a fixed mindset views every trial as an identity crisis:  if I think I’m good at math and then struggle with a math problem, that means I really suck at math:  if I am a redeemed child of God but then I struggle with life, that must mean that I’m not really God’s child.  Someone with a growth mindset views those struggles completely differently.  If I struggle with a math problem, there is value in the struggle as I apply my knowledge and develop new insight through the struggle.  When I struggle in life against temptation, evil and satanic powers, I grow in my faith, my reliance on God and my ability to empathize with others through that struggle.

Another wrong way of thinking is to separate challenges or suffering into categories based on perceived cause: some challenges are due to human error or intentional wrong-doing; other challenges are the misfortunes of life.  The world sees a betrayed relationship and an illness as two different kinds of challenges, but the Christian sees both as a result of sin.  The reality of sin is the unifying cause of all suffering in life.  But we know that God reconciled the world to Himself in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 19), and that He has power over all and will use every challenge for our good, to discipline and grow us, and for His glory, the furthering of His kingdom.  In John 9, Jesus’ disciples asked about a man’s blindness, if it was caused by the man’s sin or his parents' sin.  Jesus answered clearly:  neither; the blindness was an opportunity for God to show His power in the man’s life.  Just as the cross of Christ—with its horror and gore—was co-opted by God for His glory, He also co-opts suffering to show His glory, His power and His mercy.  Our God up-cycles pain and suffering.  He did not abandon His broken creation in the Garden of Eden, but has been working out a complex plan of good from the very beginning.  God views each of us as a work in progress until we are with Him in heaven.  Philippians 1: 6 says “…He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”  

 Isaiah 35 depicts "the joy of the redeemed"--blooming flowers, lush grounds, smooth roads, strong bodies.  It's a beautiful image of heaven, the perfection of being in God's presence eternally.  Thinking about heaven as depicted in Isaiah 35 could result in a daydreamy, uninvolved style of Christianity, one where we ignore the problems and pain around us and focus only on getting to heaven.  We circle back to and are balanced by the message of Hebrews 12:  the discipline of God for our good and His glory.  That discipline is an active, strenuous, involved process.  There’s no head-in-the sand message here.  Verse 11 says that we can expect that discipline to be painful training, but that it will produce a harvest of righteousness and peace.  Christian author CS Lewis addressed this in his book “Mere Christianity”.  He compare God to a master artist, and we are His masterpieces.  God is not content to just make us a casual sketch in the margin of life; He is intent on perfecting us as a great work of art.  And that process—scraping the canvas, painting and repainting, chiseling and sanding—would be painful if the painting or sculpture were alive, just as it’s painful to us as His living masterpieces.  We are declared perfect and holy through Christ, we are adopted as sons into God’s family.  But we are still sinful creatures living in a sinful world, and our life on earth is a time of trial and growth.  

In Hebrews 5: 7 – 10, Jesus is described as our High Priest who offered prayers for salvation to God.  The passage states that even though Christ Jesus was God’s son, “He [Christ] learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him… [emphasis added].”  Hebrews 2: 10 says that God “[made] the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.” These verses in no way cast doubt on the absolute perfection, the Godly holiness, the unquestioned and unquestioning obedience of Christ; but it does imply that His obedience to God’s plan of salvation and His death on the cross perfected the perfect.  In John 12: 23 – 25, Christ describes His crucifixion and death as Him being “glorified”—His glory, His honor and the culmination of His earthly work was the brutal, bloody death on the cross.  In Philippians 3: 7 – 11, Paul rejects all earthly greatness and all earthly wealth in favor of the security he find in the righteousness of Christ.  Paul says that he “[wants] to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain the resurrection from the dead.”  In this verse, Paul’s desire is for the honor of sharing in the sufferings of Christ.  Our sufferings earn us nothing; Christ’s sufferings earned everything.  But we suffer on earth, being sanctified as Christ-followers who persevere in trials, grow in faith, withstand temptation, love the unlovable, and produce much fruit.

1)      Read 1 Peter 1: 3 – 7.   How is our salvation in Christ described in verses 3 - 5?  How does this comfort you when you face struggles and challenges in life?

2)      What do verses 6 and 7 say about the purpose of struggles?

3)      What perspective are we encouraged to have according to verses 8 and 9?

4)    Reflect on instances of pain or suffering in your life.   Can you see God's hand bringing good from your challenges?  How has your pain and suffering given you an important perspective or allowed you to empathize with others?  Did your suffering draw you closer to God?