No Pain No Gain

 Most people would prefer to live pain free lives. They want the path of least resistance. They will go out of the way to avoid pain. These are the people who will seldom opt to take the stairs rather than the elevator. They shy away from the challenges of life. 

There are others who know pain is good. Let me explain. Pain can identify there is a problem. I put my hand on a hot burner accidentally as a child. The immediate painful sensation warned my brain to remove my hand quickly. Pain can identify when there is a medical issue that needs to be addressed. Pain in a joint may meant something is strained or torn. It can also mean an autoimmune disease like arthritis. In such cases, pain can lead us to medical treatment. 

Pain and stress can also serve to strengthen muscles. I have been into weight training for over 40 years. I love the feeling of pushing muscles to strain under the pressure of weight resistance. Lifting heavier weights stresses deep tissue muscles. Lighter weights with higher repetition produces a different kind of burn. It was  in a weightlifting magazine where I first saw the phrase, "No pain no gain." The pain and burn of the muscles straining produces strength and mass. In this case, pain is a good thing. 

There is another kind of pain. The kind a track athlete experiences as they run to increase speed and endurance. The more they run the more the lungs are taxed and increases in capacity to handle the hard work. A marathon runner works to increase endurance in legs and lungs to run over 26 miles. Pain can produce endurance.

There is another good benefit of pain. When the pain of sacrifice produces good that benefits others. Like a person donating an organ. Like a soldier sacrificing the American dream to fight for freedom and to defend the republic. No greater sacrifice has even been made than Jesus sacrificing His life so sinners could be saved. His pain bought our eternal gain. 

It has been my experience that in the painful seasons of life God has grown me the most. I have leaned into Him more during those times than times of relative ease. I have found Him both faithful and sufficient during the hard times. 

There has been a lot of pain during a multi-decade ministry. There have been dark days. More than that, there have been dark years. The pain of broken hearts, shattered faith, crushed dreams, and the gloom of despair nearly overcame. In those trying times, God used the pain to help me plant deeper roots in Him. He helped me to understand those who suffer all around me. My pain helped to relate better to their pain. That helped me to gain insights into His word and to preach with more compassion. I don't think those things would have happened to the degree they have without the pain. 

Life is filled with pain. When we experience it, our focus usually becomes how can we get out of it as quickly as possible. Shouldn't we learn to gain from our pain. I have said this before. God does not waste pain. He uses pain in our lives. 

The failure of two church plants taught me valuable lessons that I use today in a growing church. The pain of the deaths of my grandfather, sister, and mother taught me have compassion for those grieving over loved ones. Personal bouts with depression have taught me that things are not as bleak as they might seem and cling to future hope. I fight to share that hope with others gripped in the vice of depression. The pain of fatigue and defeat have taught me to get back up and persevere. Not to give up.

I cannot fathom the pain you may be enduring. Some live in constant chronic pain. There is never real relief. There are just days when the pain is more manageable than others. There is the pain of parents praying for prodigal children. The pain of watching a child rip your heart to shreds while destroying their own lives at the same time is suffocating. There is the pain of broken relationships as marriages end in divorce and friends part ways. There is also the financial pain of having too many bills and not enough money to pay them. The pain of stress mounts when financial set backs dig a deeper hole you cannot climb out of. Then, there is the pain of disappointment and disillusionment. 

In all of these, God can use the pain to produce something good. When people suffer in disease and yet still find joy in Jesus, it makes Jesus shine all the brighter against the darkness of their pain. When a person keeps getting up after getting knocked down time and again, God can use that perseverance to inspire others like He did in the lives of Amy Carmichael, Lottie Moon, Charles Spurgeon and David Brainerd. He uses the pain of stressful situations to grow the muscle of our faith in prayer to overcome. 

In closing, I challenge you to seek God's purpose in your pain. Seek how He might use that pain to grow you. Constantly remind yourself there could be gain in your pain.