The Crucible of Pain

May I just point out that the title of today's entry would also make a fantastic pro-wrestler name?

Just a little aside there. But onto my actual thoughts on pain.

I've been reading Timothy Keller's book The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, and at the end of chapter four, Keller includes a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I won't include the whole quote, but the part that caught my attention was this: "Pain is a holy angel...Through him men have become greater than through all the joys of the world..."

Do we see pain as being a learning experience through which we can grow? Or do we only try to run from it and/or avoid it altogether?

Obviously, I'm not talking about physical pain. I am not in any way advocating a masochistic attitude--I simply mean we usually run from things we fear will cause us mild inconvenience or discomfort. Sometimes we even run from pain that's necessary to deal with, like the loss of a loved one.

As Western Christians, I think we don't treat pain and inconvenience as an actual part of a Christian lifestyle. Our culture has told us everything should be easy, fast, and convenient, and Christians have adopted this attitude. For example, can you imagine a Christian self-help book entitled Suck It Up and Get Over Yourself: The 80-Step Solution to Figuring Out There's More Important Things than You Being Rich and Comfortable selling many copies? Yeah, me neither.

But could there be anything more important to building our Christian faith than embracing the challenge pain presents us? How else can we develop perseverance, patience, courage, our trust in God, and a multitude of other virtues? How else will we know if our faith is true unless it's put through the (wait for it) crucible of pain?

Looking at my personal life, it's hard to think of an important life lesson I have learned without some type of pain or sacrifice being involved. As cliche as it sounds, I have truly been made into a better person and led into a deeper relationship with God by clinging to Him through pain and trials. I'm hardly saying I'm some tremendous specimen of Christian fortitude and faithfulness, but I will say I can see Him improving me all the time, little by little, and through His steady work and careful application of pain in my life, He has developed a stronger faith within me over the period of many years.

How do you view pain? As an inconvenience meant to be avoided at all costs, or as an opportunity for growth? Think about it. What can pain do for you?