Tim Keller
is an amazing man. He communicates so effectively that I wanted to slow down
and give you lots to think about from his book Walking With God Through Pain
and Suffering. Here's more:
In Chapter 8
Keller states that, according to Christian theology, suffering is not
meaningless – neither in general nor in particular instances. For God has
purposed to defeat evil so exhaustively on the cross that all the ravages of
evil will someday be undone and we, despite participating in it so deeply, will
be saved. God is accomplishing this not in spite of suffering, agony, and loss
but through it – it is through the suffering of God that the suffering of
humankind will eventually be overcome and undone. The cross assures us that,
whatever the unfathomable councils and purposes behind the course of history,
they're motivated by love for us and absolute commitment to our joy and glory.
Those are amazing things to consider.
He then
tells something interesting about people. A psychologist says people need
adversity, setbacks, and perhaps even trauma to reach the highest levels of
strength, fulfillment, and personal development. Keller notes there are three
values of suffering. For one thing, people who endure and get through suffering
become more resilient. Romans 5:3-4 sums it up: suffering produces endurance,
and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. Suffering also
strengthens relationships. The third benefit is important too--suffering
changes priorities and philosophies. People who invest much of their energy
into the goals of personal achievement and happiness are the most vulnerable to
the adverse circumstances of life.
Keller says
the Bible explains the benefits of suffering and its purposes. For one thing,
it helps us glorify God. This is a God beyond our comprehension. Glorifying God
does not mean obeying him only because you have to. It means to obey him
because you want to. To trust God when we do not understand him is to treat him
as God and not as another human being. Trusting God in suffering also glorifies
him to others. Patient endurance of suffering when onlookers know that the
sufferers are Christians can reveal the power of God. Suffering glorifies God
to the universe and eventually even achieves a glory for us.
He notes a second
benefit of suffering that the Bible tells us about. It has to do with our
glory. If we seek not our own benefit but God's glory, it will lead
paradoxically to the development of our own glory, that is, of our character,
humility, hope, love, joy, and peace. Suffering can lead to personal growth,
training, and transformation. Suffering tends to make a person self-absorbed.
If it is seen as mainly about you and your own growth, it will strangle you
truly. Primarily we must look at suffering as a way to know God better. Then if
we make God's glory primary, it will help us achieve our own glory as well. In
the Western view, suffering is seen as an interruption of the freedom to live
in a way to make us happiest. However, non-Western cultures believe suffering
helps us apprehend new portions of reality. People who have been through
depression become wiser and more realistic about life than those who have not.
People who have never been depressed tend to overestimate the amount of control
they have over their lives. Suffering will either leave you a much better
person or a much worse one than you were before. Something to consider . . .
OK, that's
enough to chew on for now. More in the next blog.
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