Suffering Better, Not Less

Today I read 2 Corinthians 4.

God said "let light shine out of darkness" and the light shines out of my heart--to me, that's encouraging because I am more intimately familiar with the darkness of my own heart than most people, and God is even more knowledgeable about than I am. But through that darkness, the "light of the knowledge of the glory of God" shines.

I get the sense that the light of God through Jesus was intended to shine brightest in the darkest of hearts. In fact, the treasure of Christ in our hearts shines so radiantly we are dull as clay in comparison, but that again makes the light brighter. And we are not the light, or the attractive part of the package, so that we may show "the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us."

The power of God leads us to the following scenario: we are afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, struck down, and always carrying in the body the death of Jesus. We suffer. But the power of God prevents us from succumbing: we are not crushed, not driven to despair, not forsakes, not destroyed, and the life of Jesus is manifest in us.

The encouragement is to suffer not less, but better, knowing that the same power that brought Jesus back to life is in us. We will be raised from our suffering . . . ultimately. Not imminently. We are going to suffer, but we can suffer well, with the courage of the Spirit in us, so we do not lose heart. Though our fleshly outer self wastes away, our inner self, where the Spirit dwells, is being renewed daily.

In fact, we suffer to prepare us for "an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." Suffering, much like our own darkness, highlights the power of God, the glory of Christ, and the promise of eternity in the presence of pure light and goodness itself.

I pray that God changes my prayers to reflect a desire to see my suffering used for his glory, not eliminated for my comfort.