Last week I ran out of my anti-inflammatory medicine . I didn’t think much of it and took my sweet time getting it refilled, because I din’t honestly think it was helping significantly and I don’t like taking drugs on a regular basis.
Boy, was that a mistake. By the fourth day every symptom of “it” returned with a heightened intensity. I quickly realized that nothing had really gotten better; we’ve just found a somewhat effective way to mask the symptoms of whatever the deeper problem is (that’s another can of spiritual analogy worms right there…).
As I lay on the couch at one point catching my breath for a few minutes, Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4 came to my mind.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken;struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you. […]
16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self[d] is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
I particularly identified with the statement: “our outer self is wasting away.” My body quite literally felt like it was wasting away. In actuality, our outer bodies are wasting away. Physical death does await all of us. The Second Law of Thermodynamics is true: the entire earth, left to itself, tends toward disorder and decay. I was just experiencing in my body a glimpse of those realities.
But even the Second Law of Thermodynamics states that there is a way to reverse the inevitable process: the intervention of a different energy creating order and renewal out of chaos. The good news is this: God HAS intervened. He has expelled immeasurable energy to set forth the initiation of a full reversal of the death and destruction that awaits. This brings us back to Paul’s words above: “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” The wasting away that physical suffering indicates is not the end of the story. There is hope, there is a future, there is a promise of total healing and even resurrection from the dead in Jesus.
When we are deep in the throngs of suffering, we have two options: despair and hope. For those of us who have been adopted as God’s children and hold the deposit of our inheritance in our hearts, we have Paul’s words:
“we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed…”
No matter how afflicted we are, we can cling to the hope that we are not crushed; we are being renewed day by day. No matter how perplexed we are, we can cling to the hope that we are not driven to despair; there is an eternal weight of glory beyond comparison awaiting us. No matter how persecuted we are, we can cling to the hope that we are not forsaken; we will be raised with Jesus and brought into His presence. No matter how struck down we are, we can cling to the hope that we are not destroyed; the surpassing power belongs to the God of the universe.
For much of last week and into this week, I wrestled with these truths. At times I felt crushed…despairing…forsaken…destroyed. The things I know to be true were at war with the things that seemed true in my body and in my heart. But as I have wrestled this week, and come to low points, the gracious Father has lifted me up once again and brought me to the conclusion once more that I am not crushed; I must not despair; He has not forsaken me; I am not destroyed.
That reality gives me hope. It is as Paul says, “we do not lose heart.” When our bodies experience suffering, we are given a stark reminder that this life is not all there is. That things are not as they are meant to be. That the universe is headed toward disorder, but there is a gracious God whose Kingdom has already broken in.
All of this brings me to 3 conclusions:
1) This suffering gives me a greater longing for eternity. There are many wonderful things about this life, and so many areas where I see His Kingdom breaking into the brokenness. But the “momentary affliction” I experience makes me long for the day when all brokenness will be brought to an end. I long for the day when we will have new bodies that don’t waste away. I long for the day when God’s presence alone will light up the whole world. Paul says in Romans 8 that all creation is groaning for the full and complete redemption and restoration of the Kingdom. I groan for that, too.
2) This suffering increases my desire to be an agent of God’s Kingdom. If His Kingdom is breaking in, and if there will be a day when His Kingdom will be fully realized, why would I not want to be a part of it? This life, apart from Jesus, is but a vapor. It is, as Solomon says, meaningless. I don’t want to live for that which is meaningless; I want to live for that which has eternal value. This suffering gives me a deeper desire to be an instrument of God’s grace to others. Paul’s suffering has led him to continually realize there is only one thing that makes his suffering worth it: to know that through death being at work in him, the life of Christ is at work in others.
3) This suffering makes clear that I need His energy to powerfully work in me. We weren’t meant to live the rest of our Christian lives relying on our strength and power. There are times that as I pray for His Spirit to fill me, I can almost feel Him rushing through me as if there is another life living in my body (oh wait, there is!). His energy has the power to reverse the entropy at play in my life, my body, and my heart. My energy does not. This is true of all of us at all times, physical suffering makes it more apparently true because we are brought face-to-face with our weakness and need.
I think I am beginning to understand why suffering is such a part of the Christian life, why God doesn’t just exempt His children from experiencing the effects of a broken world. I think I’m beginning to understand what it means to be buried with Christ in his suffering and raised with him in his resurrection. I think I’m beginning to understand what it means for death to be at work in us while simultaneously the life of Christ lives in us. For suffering gives us a real taste of that which Christ saved us from. It deepens our longing for the day when our bodies will be raised anew and this whole earth restored. It instills in us a sense of purpose to live for His Kingdom now. It brings us to an awareness of our need and teaches us to lean on His power.
Friends, all of us experience suffering. Mine is mine, yours is yours. We each experience a different measure of suffering – some insurmountable, some but a taste. Whatever suffering you are experiencing in your life right now, let me encourage you with the same truths God has encouraged me in this week: do not lose heart. This is not all there is. Eternal glory awaits you. The outer wasting away is paired with inner renewal. Each day of suffering is one day closer to the hope of eternity. If you belong to Jesus, then you are not crushed. You are not driven to despair. You are not forsaken. You are not destroyed.
You are, in fact, being healed. Filled with hope. Loved deeply and abundantly. Filled with new life.
So do not lose heart.
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