Make a difference – Day 5

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:6-7

Suffering comes in many ways, but did you realise that for the Christian, it’s a positive experience?

Grief may grip us when someone dear dies or a child has emigrated; but when our marriage is under attack or we are waiting for payment, it can be traumatic in a different way. Whether your job is in the balance because you spoke out for your faith or you are waiting for rain, or you are in the path of a hurricane, James says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” (James 1:2-3)

Trials may be unpleasant, but they make us grow. At school, trials are set for a purpose. We seldom enjoy them because we fear that they may unfavourably affect our chances of getting into a team or of going to a particular university; but whatever the outcome, these trials build character, and develop wisdom and perseverance within us.

We suffer these trials as Christians because we own something more valuable than gold. Our faith is precious and trials are God’s way of making sure it is genuine. If we were given plastic food to eat, counterfeit money to buy clothes, or fake information about what is happening in our family or country, would this help us? Of course not. We understand that it is worthless and will get us nowhere. Our faith is the same: it will not help us if it’s not real.

We can embrace the irony of suffering to refine our faith, because Jesus gives us abundant life and with every experience, we gain great joy – even pain. Peter assures us that this suffering helps us and brings glory to God.

It’s amazing how intimately God knows us and how kind he is to us! When we have persevered with him through a trial, he can turn our crisis around and immediately fill our hearts with joy. We feel comforted in our bereavement; our marriage is restored and strengthened, the hurricane changes direction, the rain falls! He transforms our understanding and we praise him for bringing us through. Paul affirms, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

May God bless you with many experiences of this in your life!