Faith & Reflection: Voices from the Black Church and Beyond
Nobody likes to talk about suffering and pain. In fact, it’s human nature to avoid it as much as possible. For those who follow Christ, however, we know that suffering and trials are a part of life and work for our good. It is part of the cost of discipleship that we should suffer for Christ.
For it has been granted to you on Christ’s behalf not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, since you are engaged in the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I have. (Philippians 1:29-30 CSB)
Paul knew suffering for the sake of Christ, and he wanted others to know that they too would struggle. However, it’s important to know that coming through trials builds our faith, elevates our witness, and develops our character to become more like Jesus Christ.
The benefit of building endurance.
Two passages talk specifically about the need for endurance as Christians. This could be an entire word study in itself, but in a nutshell, we know from Scripture that we need endurance as the day of Christ’s return draws near. Darkness and evil are increasing, and battles are being waged in the heavenlies. Believers will need to be able to stand strong in their faith, enduring and persevering despite what comes our way.
Jesus spoke about this to the church in Philadelphia:
Because you have kept my command to endure, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is going to come on the whole world to test those who live on the earth. (Revelation 3:10)
If the church in Philadelphia were commended by Jesus for obedience to his call for endurance, then we too, must strive for the same.
Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. (Hebrews 12:1-2a)
If endurance is crucial to our witness and faith, then it’s understandable why James and Paul both wrote that believers should look at trials as a joy and a cause to boast.
Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. (James 1:2-4 CSB)
And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:3-5)
The trial.
This brings me to a conversation I had with a friend who is a nurse. I was blown away by how God spoke to both of us through this real-life example of how to come through trials with our faith intact.
She was telling me that when a patient has been put on a ventilator for any period of time, the process of coming off the machine is referred to as “a trial.” As she explained the process, I better understood why they would give it such a description.
When the patient is ready to be removed from the ventilator, they must be awake so that the nurses can make clear to them what is about to happen. They want to explain it and get a response from the patient that they understand the process.
What are the instructions? Relax, give up control to the nurses, and let them do their work as they remove the ventilator. The more they fight to be attached back to the machine, the worse for them, and the probability rises that they will have to go back on the ventilator.
It’s a matter of control.
In my friend’s experience, even after they’ve been told what will happen and clearly understand, many patients fight the process. The false fear of not being able to breathe terrifies them, and they fight to remain on the ventilator. They have not learned the lesson.
If they had relaxed and yielded to the work of the nurses, they would have realized that they were now capable of breathing freely, but their fear cost them a longer stint on the machine and a slower recovery period.
The lesson we talked about from this example is that God often uses times of crisis to wake us up from our sleepy Christian walk. He’s asking us to completely give him control, but we’ve become dependent on the things that medicate our faith and inhibit us from living out the freedom we have in Christ. Are we afraid to let go of the things that drown out the voice of the Holy Spirit, grabbing the mask back from God, who says, “Trust me”?
The true sign of an enduring Christian is a person who yields to God’s control in good times and in bad. Trials come, but by giving sway to the merciful hand of God, we come through stronger and steadier in our faith to His glory. Let’s work to lay aside all that hinders us in our walk with him and run with endurance toward the goal set before us.
Grace and Peace
If you missed the last Wednesday Wisdom, click HERE, or check out these other posts about trials: 7 Lessons God Taught Me from Cicadas, Making Sense of Suffering, Singing in Prison, How Long, O Lord?, Embrace Suffering, and Trust in the Beloved.
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