Endurance for the Journey, Featured, Purpose in Suffering?

He will wipe every tear from their eyes,
And there will be no more death
or sorrow or crying or pain.
All these things are gone forever.”
REVELATION 21:4 (NLT)

Few things make Jan and me sadder than reality-denying speeches that go something like this: “Oh praise the Lord I’m going through this! Praise the Lord for this pain!” That may sound spiritual, but it’s not. It’s false. Suffering is not a pleasant thing, and to limp around with fake smiles on our lips and saccharine words on our tongues does a terrible disservice to the gospel.

If pain itself were so great, why is God going to do away with it in heaven? No, it’s not the pain for which we are to be joyful, but the good results that it can produce in us. To deny the pain and the suffering and the agony is to lie and to cease living in the truth. And neither honors God or helps us.

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.
ROMANS 5:3-4 (NLT)

On the journey with you,
Jan & Dave Dravecky