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Pain

There have few times in life when I have felt closer to God than when I have been in need. What is it about loneliness, fear, and becoming keenly aware of our own depravity that compels us to run to him (I guess when I say us, I mean Christians, though I know this is what brings some people to God in the first place)? Christians, through history, have found purpose in these things. Soren Kierkegaard, for example, thought it necessary to forsake all things pleasurable and to embrace despair. This, he said, would cause in us a crisis that would lead to faith in God. Only with this faith, he said, could life have any meaning. Honestly, it sounds a little like Buddhism, but I do agree that there is purpose in suffering. Read I Peter 5:10:

"And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast."

That seems manageable, that God would allow us to go through pain so we can grow; but then I read passages like Acts 9:14, where God says of Paul, "I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." Wow. Here God is saying directly that he will put his servant through untold hardhip. At first sight, it's hard to digest. We forget, though, that this same man ended up writing most of the New Testament and, time and again, expressed joy in Christ. It's heartening to know that God can use the results of our sin (pain) to fashion us to become more like him. There's purpose in that. Thanks for reading.

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