I am reading a book called "The Joy of Fearing God" by Jerry Bridges along with two other Christian guys. We read a chapter a week and discuss it over lunch on Fridays. I recommend it as a good book for forcing us to deal with the concept of fearing God, which is not well understood in our churches and rarely preached.
In this week's chapter, something really stood out to me. It is what the author has called the "stewardship of pain." This is the idea that God brings all things into our lives for us to make use of those things to bring Him glory, even the pain, both physical and emotional, that we go through. God desires us to give over to Him our pain just as much as He desires that we commit our time, abilities, and money to Him.
This is an amazing thing to think on and accept because it brings us to a wonderful place of trusting Christ to not only grant us the grace that we need to rejoice even in our sufferings but also to make use of those sufferings in ministry to others.
As I've said before, I firmly believe that God wastes nothing. All things that we are led through will be used by Him for His glory. This gives me great delight to trust my savior who I know is in control of every situation.
As a commentary on our society, it is important to point out that this "stewardship of pain" is very counter-cultural. Our society seeks to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. Certainly, it is rare for the society to hold up pain and suffering as tools for good, which is exactly what God can make of them.
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2 comments:
Twila Paris recorded a song called 'This Thorn". It is exactly what this post discusses, ie., God using our pain for our good. Therefore, we should thank him for the thorns in our lives. Beautiful song, true lyrics.
This is a good word. I can only hope that I will have this outlook when I am in the midst of pain.
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