Truly Experiencing Easter

Posted on March 31, 2021 by russellmckinney

Lutheran Pastor Richard Kapfer once suggested that churches should conduct a completely different type of Easter Sunday service than the one we usually do. For starters, he said we should make our sanctuaries as bland and as barren of color as we can that particular Sunday. That means no Easter lilies, no Easter banners, etc. All the lights should be dimmed, and any background music should be low and somber. Basically, the sanctuary should be cold and lifeless in order to accurately represent the mood of that group of women who first approached Christ’s tomb at dawn on that Sunday morning so long ago.

But then, once everyone is seated in the sanctuary and the story of the women approaching the tomb has been read aloud, someone should proclaim in a loud voice, “HE IS NOT HERE! HE IS RISEN!” At this point, the sanctuary lights should be turned on, trumpets should sound forth, and all the flowers and decorations should be brought out and placed in their proper settings. In Kapfer’s estimation, such a Sunday morning service would help us all better understand the effect Christ’s resurrection had upon that group of women.

While I myself have never implemented Kapfer’s plan at any of the churches I’ve pastored, I can’t say that it wouldn’t make for a powerful service. It might even break us out of the mundane banality that too many times marks the “routine” of our Easter Sunday services. Certainly the morning of Christ’s resurrection was anything but routine!

The fact is, though, even if our churches never quite catch the awesome vibrancy of Easter, you can. With this goal in mind, let me encourage you to revisit the Easter story as it is given to us in scripture, and make a point of doing so in a way that is new and fresh to you. Try, as best you can, to place yourself in the shoes of those women who walked to Christ’s tomb that morning to anoint His decaying corpse with spices, only to discover that the tomb was empty and He had risen from the dead.

To those women, Christs resurrection meant that the Jewish religious leaders hadn’t won after all. The brutality of the Roman soldiers hadn’t had the last word. The cross wasn’t the end of Jesus because death couldn’t hold Him. Everything He had ever taught and done was bursting with relevance again, and the possibilities were now limitless in the lives of His followers. Friend, if you can catch a moment or two of that sensation this Easter, you will truly have experienced the holiday. And it’s my prayer that you will genuinely be able to do just that.

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So-So

Posted on March 29, 2021 by russellmckinney

In Jones county, Mississippi, there is a little town called Soso. There are different stories regarding how the town got its name. One says that an early settler of the area used to always reply, “So-so” whenever someone asked him how he was doing. Another says that when the railroad was being built through the area, a small group went ahead to scout out a place where the workers could set up base camp. When the group returned and were asked if they had found a spot, they answered, “We found a place. It has some water, but not enough. It has some shelter, but not what we’d expect. The place we found is just so-so.”

Christian, aren’t you glad that Jesus put in infinitely more than just a “so-so” effort in paying the sin debt that you owed to holy God? Isaiah chapter 53 is probably the Bible’s most graphic passage on what our salvation cost Jesus. Instead of me simply conveying the verses verbatim, I hope you won’t mind if I mix and mingle the many phrases from the verses to create a descriptive paragraph. As you read the paragraph, please read slowly and take time to let the words deeply resonate with you.

He had no form, comeliness, or beauty that we should desire Him, and we hid our faces from Him and did not esteem Him. He was despised, rejected, acquainted with grief, and smitten by God. He was stricken, afflicted, wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities. He was acquainted with grief, oppressed, led as a lamb to the slaughter, and cut off from the land of the living. Like a sheep before its shearers is silent, He was a man of sorrows who opened not His mouth when He was taken from prison. The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all, and He was stricken for the transgression of the Lord’s people. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him and put Him to grief, and He was numbered with the transgressors. His soul was poured out unto death and made an offering for sin. He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, and the chastisement for our peace was upon Him. By His stripes we are healed. He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth, but they made His grave with the wicked and the rich at His death.

Tell me, does that description sound like Jesus did a so-so job in dying for our sins? Of course it doesn’t. Why then do we tend to do such a so-so job of serving Him? As the old hymn says, “Jesus paid it ALL, ALL to Him I owe.” We should let the combination of those two uses of “ALL” be a challenge to us to not only believe in Jesus as our Savior, but also give Him the absolute best each of us has to offer. You see, when it comes to knowing Him as Savior and living for Him as Lord, “so-so” just won’t do. And while we can never match the effort that He expended for us, I trust you will agree that we can do a better job of striving to reach that goal than we are right now.

Posted in Backsliding, Christ's Death, Complaining, Discipleship, Doing Good, Dying To Self, Faithfulness, God's Holiness, God's Love, God's Mercy, God's Work, Grace, Ministry, Obedience, Perseverance, Priorities, Repentance, Sacrifice, Salvation, Sanctification, Service, Suffering, Thankfulness | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

No Faith for the Present

Posted on March 26, 2021 by russellmckinney

Every true Christian has faith in Jesus in regards to what happened in the past. That list includes: His virgin birth, sinless life, teachings, miracles, substitutionary death, resurrection, and ascension. By faith, we accept these scriptural facts about who Jesus was in His earthly life.

Likewise, every true Christian has faith in Jesus in regards to what will happen in the future. While different denominations and groups hold to different interpretations concerning the prophetic events described in scripture, all Christians agree that, in the end, Jesus is going to win a complete and resounding victory over Satan, the other fallen angels, and all those who reject Him. All Christians will then spend eternity with Jesus in perfect bliss.

But what about having faith in Jesus for the present? Well, the evidence indicates that is something many Christians haven’t mastered yet. Oh, sure, we can fully believe that Jesus died on the cross, even though we weren’t there to watch Him do it. We can even fully believe that He has our eternal destiny firmly settled, even though we haven’t see that, either. But fully believe that He is going to meet our need today? Nope, that’s too big a bridge for us to cross.

In John chapter 11, we find the story of the death and resurrection of Lazarus. When Jesus arrived on the scene, Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days (11:17). Lazarus’ sister Martha met Jesus outside the house and told him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died” (11:20-21). We can call that her expressing her faith in Jesus in regards to the past. Jesus responded by promising her, “Your brother will rise again” (11:23). To that, Martha replied, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” We can call that her expressing her faith in Jesus in regards to the future.

None of that was good enough for Jesus, though. He said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (11:25-26). That was His way of trying to get Martha to believe that her brother would rise again that day. It’s not that He didn’t appreciate the faith she had in Him for the past and the future, but He wanted her to have just as much faith in Him for the present.

To Martha’s credit, she had already expressed a certain amount of that brand of faith. Not only had she said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died,” she had immediately added, “But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You” (11:22). Her words seem to indicate that she believed that Jesus could resurrect Lazarus right then and there but didn’t actually think He would. Then, after Jesus told her that He was the resurrection and the life, she said, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is come into the world” (11:27). You see, she could believe that Jesus was Messiah the Jews had waited for so long, but she couldn’t believe that He was going to bring Lazarus back to life that day.

Truth be told, that’s where most of us Christians live. We believe that Jesus is who He claims to be, and we believe that He can do great and mighty things (even miraculous things) in our lives. What we have trouble believing is that He will do those things. Again, it’s the faith in the present that oftentimes eludes us. We just can’t trust that the same Savior who died in the past to pay for our sins will help us pay for our groceries today. We just can’t trust that the same Savior who has promised to make our future glorious will help us make today glorious.

So, Christian, right now would be a good time for you to pull yourself in for a “faith check-up.” My guess is that you’ve got plenty of faith in Jesus for past events and future events. But how is your faith in Him concerning today’s events? That problem, that need, that situation you are facing as you read this, do you have the faith that Jesus will handle it for you? If you don’t, then let me encourage you to pray to Him right now and let Him know that your faith is weak. Like Martha, tell Him what you believe about Him, and then ask Him to help you fill in the gaps where your faith is lacking. As we approach Easter Sunday, remember that you serve a living Savior, one who wants to help you in the here and now every bit as much as He has helped you in the past and will do so in the future. He has promised to meet all your needs. So, that isn’t the issue. The issue is: Can you confidently rest in His promise to do it?

Posted in Adversity, Belief, Comfort, Courage, Encouragement, Faith, Fear, Needs, Prayer Requests, Problems, Trials, Trusting In God, Worry | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

A Wrong Kind of Service to God

Posted on March 25, 2021 by russellmckinney

They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. (John 16:2, N.K.J.V.)

Could a society ever become so warped as to think that serving God means killing Christians? Absolutely! As a matter of fact, the time that Jesus spoke of in our text verse came pretty quickly after He uttered the words.

Following Christ’s resurrection, ascension, and the dawning of the church age, the Jewish religious leaders excommunicated Christ’s apostles from the synagogues in an attempt to stamp out Christianity. Even worse, over the course of the years that followed, those same apostles were all ultimately martyred by the Romans for doing nothing more than serving Christ. While Acts 12:1-2 tells us that the apostle James was martyred by way of the sword upon the order of Herod Agrippa I, the martyrdoms of the other apostles aren’t recorded in scripture. They are, however, recorded in other historical records. For example, Peter was crucified upside down and Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross.

The apostles certainly weren’t the only Christians to be martyred, either. By one account, 2 million of the Roman empire’s 7 million Christians had been killed by 325 A.D. Just as the Jewish religious leaders considered excommunicating the apostles to be a service to their god Yahweh, the Romans considered martyring any Christian to be a service to their human “god” Caesar.

This points us to the fact that zeal for one’s god can be a dangerous thing if that zeal is misguided. Islamic terrorists provide us with plenty of modern-day evidence of this, but the fact is that history is replete with such examples. According to the Encyclopedia of Wars, there have been 1,763 recorded historical conflicts, and 123 of them have had religion as their primary cause. Even if some of those 123 were actually conducted at God’s bidding, the truth remains that religion (devotion to one’s god) can cause a man to pick up a weapon as quickly as any other motivation.

In Romans 10:1-3, Paul describes the lost, unbelieving Jews of his day and begins his description by giving them credit for having a zeal for God. But then he explains that their zeal is “not according to knowledge.” This zeal without knowledge was what caused those Jewish religious leaders to ban Christ’s apostles from the Jewish synagogues in a deluded attempt to keep those synagogues “pure” for God, to say nothing of committing even worse atrocities such as stoning Stephen to death (Acts 7:54-60).

The takeaway from all this for us Christians today is that we must go to great lengths to ensure that our own zeal for God is indeed a zeal that is marked by knowledge. We do this by praying, studying, showing discernment, and submitting to God’s will in regards to whatever we do in the name of the Lord. Putting it simply, it’s not enough to be “on fire for Jesus.” No, that fire must be a controlled burn that doesn’t burn down anything it shouldn’t. You see, if we start acting like that, we run the risk of making the same mistake those Jewish religious leaders and Romans did. That’s the mistake of banishing God’s spokesmen from our presence and putting to death what God has ordained and blessed.

Posted in Church, Discernment, God's Name, God's Will, God's Work, Ministry, Pastors, Preaching, Service, Truth, War | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Quick Word About Revenge

Posted on March 22, 2021 by russellmckinney

A group of American soldiers were stationed in Korea during the Korean War. While they were there they hired a young Korean fellow to cook and clean for them. Unfortunately for the Korean, the soldiers were a bunch of pranksters.

Each day the soldiers perpetrated a different prank on the Korean. One day they smeared Vaseline on the handles of the stove so that when he turned it on, he got Vaseline on his fingers. Another day they mounted a bucket of water over the door so that he got soaked when he opened the door. One night they even nailed his shoes to the floor while he slept.

Finally, the soldiers began feeling guilty about their actions. So, they sat the Korean down and said, “We know these pranks haven’t been funny for you. We’re sorry, and we are going to stop doing them.” The Korean, in his broken English, asked, “No more sticky on stove?” “No,” said the soldiers. “No more water over door?” “No.” “No more nail shoes to floor?” “No.” “Okay,” said the Korean, “then no more spit in soup.”

Revenge: It is one of the most basic tendencies of human nature. The desire to strike back? The need to get even? The obsession to settle a score? You had best believe we all have some of that in us. The problem is that God, in His written word, commands us not to act upon these impulses. As Romans 12:19 and Hebrews 10:30 both say concerning Him, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.

In one way, this word from the Lord is frustrating because it prevents us from legitimately meting out our own revenge. In another way, though, it is encouraging because of that word “will.” You see, God doesn’t say, “I might repay.” He promises, “I will repay.” The timing and the details for how He does this repaying will always be different, simply because each situation is different. But you can mark it down, He will repay. The real question is, “Can we wait patiently for Him to do it?”

Posted in Anger, Desires, God's Timing, God's Wrath, God's Judgment, Impatience, Justice, Patience, Revenge, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

God Came from Teman

Posted on March 19, 2021 by russellmckinney

God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. (Habakkuk 3:3, K.J.V.)

Most of us have at one time or another asked, “Where did God come from?” Well, a few years ago a man pointed out to me that the Bible tells us exactly where God came from. As the fellow told me, “The Bible says that God came from Teman.” Obviously, the man didn’t understand the meaning of Habakkuk 3:3.

Teman was one of the largest cities in the nation of Edom, that nation that was founded by Esau and populated by his descendants. Edom was located in the wilderness region to the south of Israel, lying between Israel and Egypt. The city of Teman was named for Esau’s grandson, Teman (Genesis 36:11).

The Mount Paran that is also mentioned in Habakkuk 3:3 was located west of Teman. Paran was in the northern part of the Sinai Penisula, that region where Mount Sinai is located. Mount Sinai is, of course, where God imparted His law to Moses and the Israelites.

Knowing this background information helps us correctly understand Habakkuk 3:3. When the prophet says, “God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran,” he is referring to how God displayed awesome power in bringing the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage and to Mount Sinai. Actually, Habakkuk’s references to Teman and Mount Paran are only two of his references to this event. Two more are found in Habakkuk 3:7, where he says: “I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble” (K.J.V.). Cushan refers to Ethiopia in northern Africa, and Midian was most likely located northeast of the Gulf of Aqaba near Edom. The point Habakkuk is making is that the reports of God bringing the Israelites out of Egypt by way of the ten plagues and the parting of the Red Sea caused fear among all the nations of that part of the world.

In describing how God delivered Israel from Egypt, Habakkuk poetically depicts God as being blindingly bright and having rays flashing from his hand (3:4). Pestilence went before Him and fever followed in His wake (3:5). The mountains scattered before Him and the hills bowed (3:6). On and on the description goes like that, and what Habakkuk wants is for God to once again display such awesome power in delivering Israel from her enemies. The New Living Translation catches the heart of Habakkuk’s desire by translating our text verse as follows:

I see God moving across the deserts from Edom, the Holy One coming from Mount Paran. His brilliant splendor fills the heavens, and the earth is filled with his praise.

You see, that man who told me, “The Bible says that God came from Teman” made the mistake of thinking the words “came from” somehow refer to God’s origin, as if the Bible was dropping a clue that God isn’t truly eternal. That mistake was simply one more example of how the Bible can be made to teach just about anything. That’s why we must be diligent to put in the necessary work to not just read the Bible but also study it and figure out what its words mean. Only then can we keep ourselves from believing wrong doctrines, doctrines such as God having an origin in Teman.

Posted in Bible Study, Discernment, Scripture | Tagged , , , , | 20 Comments

Nobody to Blame!

Posted on March 17, 2021 by russellmckinney

Several years ago I cut a little article out of a Christian newspaper. I threw the article in my nightstand drawer where I keep some of the illustrations I’ve accumulated and didn’t think much more about it. Today I was sifting through those illustrations and again came across the article. It was now somewhat faded from being in that drawer so long, but I was amazed at how relevant the words still are for these current times. The article is entitled “Nobody to Blame!” and goes like this:

When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they did the same thing people have done ever since — they started making excuses. Adam blamed Eve. Eve blamed the serpent. Nobody stepped up and said, “It was my fault.” What if they had used some of the same stupid excuses we use today?

They could have said their sin was due to the environment in which they lived, but their environment was perfect. They could have said it was a lack of education that made them do it, but they were the most educated people on earth. They could have blamed it all on their in-laws, but they didn’t have any. They could have claimed that their sin was due to a repressive government, but they only had one law. How repressive is that?

They could have said poverty was the problem, but they had the whole world. They could have blamed injustices in society, but they were society. They could have blamed the influence of TV and video games, but those hadn’t been invented yet. They could have said it was all because of an absentee dad, but their Father was with them every day.

They could have pinned it on their upbringing, but they were created as adults and never had any upbringing. They could have blamed racial problems, but Adam was the only man, and Eve was taken out of him, so I would imagine they were both of the same race. They could have said their sin was the only way to get ahead, but who was there to get ahead of?

No, none of these excuses would hold water, and neither will any of ours. “So…they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:20-22).

Now let me tell you the fascinating thing about this article. It was written by a prisoner who was at the time serving a sentence in a state prison in the south. The prisoner’s name remained anonymous, but the initials were T.S.P. After all these years, I have no idea if the prisoner is alive or dead or ever got released. I don’t even know if T.S.P. refers to a man or a woman. All I know is that whoever it was, they certainly wrote the truth about how we all unsuccessfully attempt to shift the blame for our sins.

Posted in Addiction, Attitude, Backsliding, Character, Complaining, Confession, Conscience, Depravity, Disobedience, Guilt, Repentance, Sin | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Praying On the Go

Posted on March 15, 2021 by russellmckinney

D.L. Moody ministered during the latter half of the 1800s, a time when crossing the Atlantic ocean could only be done by ship. During one of his voyages a fire broke out aboard the ship. The crew immediately formed a line to pass buckets of water, and some volunteers also joined the line. A friend said to Moody, “Mr. Moody, let us go to the other end of the ship and pray.” But Moody answered, “Not so, sir. We will stand right here and pass buckets and pray hard all the time we are doing so.”

I used to think that me praying ideally could only be done while I was for the most part motionless. To me, Jesus sitting in stillness on a mountainside late at night was the best example of how to do real praying. After all, He did tell us to go into a room, shut the door behind us, and pray to God the Father in the secret place, didn’t He (Matthew 6:6)? Over the years, though, I’ve learned that ideal praying doesn’t necessarily have to involve inactivity.

Sometimes the busyness of life forces us to multitask. I myself do some of my best praying when I’m driving somewhere that’s an hour or more away. During such times my “secret place” becomes the driver’s seat of my car. Likewise, I enjoy praying while I’m doing household chores such as making the bed, folding clothes, or emptying the dishwasher. Sometimes I even try to pray while I’m riding my lawnmower, but I’ll admit that I find the roar from the mower’s engine a bit too distracting. Multitasking does have its limits.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, the apostle Paul urges Christians to “pray without ceasing.” Since we have to sleep, Paul obviously didn’t mean for his words to be taken ultra literally. What he meant was that we should spend every waking moment in what might be described as a continual atmosphere of prayer. As the prominent pastor Ed Young Sr. describes it, “We are to pray constantly, faithfully, and over and over, until our prayers are so much a part of who we are that we remain on praying ground throughout the day.”

The reality is that there will be plenty of times when your circumstances will prevent you from retreating to your secret place, closing the door behind you, becoming inactive, and then praying. It’s during such times that you’ll need to know how to pray on the go. Shopping is a good example. There you are in the store, trying to decide whether or not to buy that item. You need to seek God’s will concerning the decision, but what can you do? I’ll tell you. Right there in the store you can go to God in prayer, asking Him, “Lord, do you want me to make this purchase or not?” I’m not talking about you dropping to your knees in the store aisle. I’m not even talking about you literally closing your eyes. I’m talking about you multitasking. You shop and pray at the same time, just like D.L. Moody passed a bucket and prayed at the same time.

Am I saying that you shouldn’t have times when you come to an “all stop” and do nothing but pray? No, I’m not. As a matter of fact, you should do whatever is necessary to make those times happen with great frequency. But between those times you should master the art of praying as you go (or, praying as you do, if you like that description better). If your life is like mine, you can find it difficult to get to a place of complete inactivity and complete silence. Thankfully, though, the Lord doesn’t require us to be in such a place in order for Him to hear our prayers. Remember, Christian, prayer is simply you talking with your heavenly Father, and if we earthly fathers know how to talk to our kids while they are on the move, so does God.

Posted in God's Will, Personal, Prayer, Prayer Requests | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Is It Sin Or Not?

Posted on March 13, 2021 by russellmckinney

One morning a boy was dressing for school. He picked up a shirt that was lying around and asked his mother, “Mom, is this shirt dirty?” Without even looking at the shirt, the mother answered, “Yes, it’s dirty; put on a clean one.” The boy said, “But you didn’t even look at the shirt.” To that, the mother replied, “If you have to ask, it’s dirty.”

While some would consider the mother’s standard as extreme, I’d say her little boy was never caught out in public wearing a dirty shirt! I’d also say that we Christians could do a lot worse than apply her high standard to our everyday conduct. “Is what I’m about to do here a sin?” “If you have to ask, it’s dirty.”

Officially, the New Testament’s standard for Christians goes like this: “Whatever is not from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23). Putting it another way: “Let each person be fully convinced in his own mind” (Romans 14:5). The teaching isn’t hard to understand. If you aren’t fully convinced in your own mind that what you are considering doing isn’t sin, you shouldn’t do it. Going back to my illustration, it’s dirty to you.

Several years ago, our whole family went on vacation to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Dollywood is a popular theme park in that area, and at some point Tonya’s mother, Jessie, met a couple who gave her two pre-paid passes to the park. The couple had purchased the passes and planned to use them, but their plans had changed and they offered them to Jessie as a free gift. The only problem was the fact that the passes clearly stated that only the purchaser could use them.

Since our two boys were still young at the time, Jessie offered the passes to me and Tonya. She figured that we could use them to take the boys to Dollywood for half price. I didn’t feel right about accepting the offer, though, because I knew that none of us had purchased those two passes. So, I told Tonya, “No, we’re not doing that.”

Jessie, on the other hand, who is a devout Christian herself, took a different view of the situation. She thought that her running into that couple by happenstance was the Lord’s way of blessing her with those passes, and she wasn’t about to turn down the Lord’s blessing. That’s why it didn’t surprise me when she loaded up Tonya’s dad, Charles, the next morning and headed off for a day at Dollywood. To this day, I don’t think she’s ever felt the slightest twinge of guilt or conviction over using those passes.

My guess is that some people who read this post will agree with Jessie’s assessment of that situation. Then again, some of you will agree with mine. However you feel about it, the point I’m trying to get across is that life is filled with these gray zones, areas where Christians might not agree on what is sin and what isn’t sin. Jessie could use those passes in faith and be fully convinced in her own mind that what she was doing wasn’t sin, but I couldn’t. As for which one of us was truly in the right, I’ll let the Lord sort that out in eternity. Like that mother in my opening illustration, I took the cautious approach and called the shirt (the passes) dirty. All I know is, I slept fine after turning them down. Would I have slept so good had I used them? I guess I’ll never know, at least in this life. By the way, Tonya and the boys have been to Dollywood several times for school trips. I myself still haven’t seen the inside of the place.

Posted in Choices, Decisions, Discernment, Entertainment, God's Will, Inner Peace, Personal, Personal Holiness, Sin | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Why Does God Allow Suffering?

Posted on March 11, 2021 by russellmckinney

We live in a world that is deeply scarred by suffering. Some people suffer physically, while others suffer emotionally, mentally, psychologically, or financially. But whatever your specific brand of suffering happens to be, no one gets out of this world unscathed.

Sometimes we bring suffering upon ourselves. Since God’s universal law of sowing and reaping is always in operation (Galatians 6:7-8), it ensures that we reap an unpleasant harvest anytime we sow bad seed with our behavior. Other times, however, our fellow man hand delivers suffering to us through no fault of our own. Perhaps the most frustrating bouts of suffering we have to endure are those that aren’t our fault or anyone else’s. They just kind of happen, seemingly without cause.

The inevitability of suffering isn’t easy to explain, and it’s what sours some people on the whole notion of God. As Adrian Rogers once said in his sermon “The Stars & Scars of Christmas”:

There’s a great problem in the world today when you try to testify about God. The problem is not primarily science. The problem is primarily history. The problem is primarily suffering. And people will ask you again and again, how can you believe in a God, if there be a God, who allows so much suffering?

I think we have to admit this question is a fair one. In our human way of reasoning, we assume that any God who is not only all power but also all loving should eliminate suffering completely. Consequently, since it’s obvious that all suffering hasn’t been eliminated, we are left to assume that God either doesn’t exist or that He isn’t all powerful and all loving. As Rogers pointed out, this is the conundrum that turns many people atheistic or at least agnostic.

However, when we consult the Bible and learn what it teaches about suffering, we find quite a bit of help to answer the conundrum. Not only does the Bible explain the source of suffering, it also explains how God uses suffering as a tool in His toolbox. And just how does He use suffering as a tool to accomplish His purposes? There are at least seven ways.

First, God uses suffering to remind us that we are members of a fallen race that has become separated from Him by sin. Romans 5:12 explains how suffering became a part of this world’s basic set-up. Adam, the biological father of the human race, brought sin down upon his entire race when he followed suit with his wife in eating of the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:1-6; 1 Timothy 2:13-14). And with sin came death as well. Furthermore, by implication, sin and death also brought suffering. An unending chain of dominoes was thus begun as this sin-death-suffering package was then passed down to each of Adam’s billions of descendants by way of his sin-poisoned reproductive seed. To make the whole catastrophe even worse, Romans 8:20-22 explains that Adam’s sin also subjected God’s once-perfect creation to futility and the bondage of corruption (decay), so much so that creation itself now groans like a woman experiencing labor pangs. Yes, what happened way back there in the Garden of Eden did that much damage, and God uses all the suffering in the world to continually remind us that we are members of Adam’s fallen race, a race that has become separated from Him by sin.

Second, God uses suffering to motivate us to seek Him. In James 5:13, the Bible says: “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray…” (N.K.J.V.). Can you hear the direct line of connection between suffering and seeking God? Just as your body uses pain to get you to seek a doctor, God allows you to suffer as a means to get you to seek Him. That’s why He says in Psalm 50:15: “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me” (N.K.J.V.). If we never experienced a day of trouble, would we ever call upon God?

Third, God uses suffering to help us keep our eyes on eternity. If suffering does nothing else, it lessens our love affair with life on planet earth. That, as it so happens, is a good thing because God has built us for eternity. Ecclesiastes 3:11 refers to our eternal makeup when it says of God’s relationship to human beings: “…He has put eternity in their hearts…” (N.K.J.V.). Of course, the problem we face is that as full-fledged members of Adam’s sinful race, we stand in need of forgiveness lest we be separated from God for all eternity in a hellish place of torment. To receive that forgiveness, we must place saving belief in Jesus, the One who died on a Roman cross as the payment for our sins (1 John 2:1-2). God wants each individual to receive this forgiveness (1 Timothy 2:3-6), and it is this forgiveness of sin — this salvation experience — that qualifies the believer (the Christian) to enter God’s heaven in the afterlife. As for how awesome heaven is, the sufferings we have to endure in this present time aren’t even worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us there (Romans 8:18).

Fourth, God uses suffering to enable us to sympathize with others who are suffering. Romans 12:15 says: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (N.K.J.V.). But how can we effectively weep with those who weep if we ourselves have never had to shed a tear? God solves this potential shortcoming by allowing us to experience suffering, enough suffering to produce tears. Another great verse on this subject is 2 Corinthians 1:4, which says that God comforts us in all our tribulation so that we may be able to comfort those who are in trouble. The truth is that people who live in ivory towers and never know suffering make for very poor comforters.

Fifth, God uses suffering as a means to receive glory for Himself. In John 9:1-12, we find the record of Jesus encountering a man who had been born blind. When Christ’s disciples saw the man, they asked, “Was this man born blind because of his sin or his parents’ sin?” Jesus answered, “Neither. He was born blind so that the works of God should be revealed in him.” Jesus then restored the man’s sight. The story of the death and resurrection of Lazarus conveys this same truth (John 11:1-44). Jesus said of Lazarus’ sickness, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (John 11:4, (N.K.J.V.). While it is true that both of those stories had happy endings, miracles whereby God received glory, suffering that doesn’t end in a miraculous healing or resurrection can still produce glory for God. Just think about the awesome testimony that is showcased when an individual or a family is forced to endure a fatal type of suffering and yet continues to have faith in God and praise Him in spite of the suffering and the loss. In many ways, that brings even more glory to God than a miracle does.

Sixth, in the life of the Christian, God uses suffering as a tool to produce many beneficial characteristics within the Christian. For example, Romans 5:3-5 says the Christian should glory in tribulations because they produce perseverance (endurance), which in turn produces character, which in turn produces hope. Likewise, James 1:2-3 says the Christian should count it all joy when he falls into various trials. Why? Those verses describe the trials as being tests for the Christian’s faith, and that testing benefits that Christian by producing patience (perseverance, endurance). Additionally, experiencing suffering can also help the Christian appreciate Christ’s death on the cross better and align himself or herself more closely with Christ. The apostle Paul spoke of this benefit in Philippians 3:10 when he proclaimed his desire to know the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings. Peter spoke of it in 1 Peter 4:13 when he encouraged Christians to rejoice over the fact that we have been granted the privilege of being made a partaker of Christ’s sufferings.

Seventh, in the life of the Christian, God uses suffering as a means of chastising the Christian for disobedience. The Bible’s classic passage on this is Hebrews 12:3-11. Those verses teach that God chastises (scourges, whips) every Christian just as a loving earthly father faithfully chastises a rebellious child. The passage even goes so far as to say that if an individual can live a lifestyle of sin without God chastising him, that is clear proof the individual isn’t a true Christian. This idea of God chastising His disobedient children held true in the days of the Old Testament as well. A proof text for that is Psalm 119:67, where the Psalmist says to God: “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.”

Finally, let me conclude by mentioning that Romans 8:28 also has a bearing upon the question, “Why does God allow suffering?” That verse says to the Christian: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (N.K.J.V.). Those words “all things” surely include all suffering. Somehow, in some way for which God rarely gets credit, He knows how to weave suffering into His tapestry of goodness for our lives. I won’t pretend that this truth takes all the pain out of our suffering, but it at least helps us realize that we don’t suffer pointlessly. The fact is that God never wastes anything in our lives, even our suffering, and this should encourage us during those difficult times when we are called upon to suffer. Not only can God use our suffering, He can use it for our good. As a matter of fact, there is some good that can only be produced through suffering.

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