The Word That Suits: The Suffering That Makes Perfect

Hebrews 12: 4-11

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:

"My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Roman 8:18-19

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.

Is it possible to have a general in the military force who did not go through a form of rigorous training? At the entry level a lot of people get listed into the military force, but just a few attain the rank of a general. When you have a particular batch of soldiers and you compare the number of them in a year set at the entry level to the number of them in that same year set many years later who attain the rank of a generals you will probably come to a ratio of 1:3.

We need to try and imagine a military officer who didn't go through a military training before becoming an army general. On all fronts this is an impossible occurrence. In the world over those who are trained for war are about the most disciplined people because the training they have undergone produces discipline in them and ultimately prepares them for battle. One other thing that we need to be mindful of is that these set of people are accorded special respect, and indeed they deserve as much respect that they are accorded and much more because the training they have passed through to get to the point of honour is not attainable by just anybody. A lot will not attempt it, while a lot others have fallen along the way or withdrawn from the process. This training is not the easiest to engage in for any length of time. But for those who succeed, there awaits them the medal of honour.

The Bible has likened the various hardships, challenges and struggles that we might be facing as discipline and it is designed by God to produce a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. So what this tells us is that whatever challenge, struggle, trial or whatever name we might want to give it that we are facing, is to produce perfection in us if we allow ourselves to be trained by it.

What really interests me in this passage is that the Lord recognizes that this hardships or struggles are actually painful, and so we are now aware that the Lord recognizes and understands our pains. And though He has the ability to take the pain away He lets it stay until we attain perfection. Because it will be a fruitless effort to go through the pains without achieving the desired result of perfection in us.

Paul said in Roman 8:18 that our present suffering is not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us, and then went on to say that the creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God who have undergone the suffering, who have been trained by their struggles and are shinning forth in the glory of God to manifest. This is very much like the training and the honour of the army general described above.

Romans 8:28-30

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Hebrews 5:8-10

Although he was a Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

These two passages really helped me pull throw in my own trying times. The revelation of the word that I got from these passages helped me to hold on and get the training for my life as the Lord will have me learn them. Paul said that those God foreknew He predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son Jesus Christ. And that tells me that there are some people that indeed the Lord has called and predestined to be conformed to be like Jesus. These category of people are also justified by God and then they are glorified.

But when we read through the second passage in Hebrews, we will see that Jesus didn't attain that level of perfection by chance. The Bible tell us that He learned and was made perfect from the things He suffered. There was a process of some form of training through suffering that produced perfection in Jesus.

If then we are called to be conformed in likeness to the Lord Jesus Christ, it is important to realize that there is no short-cut to perfection outside the training we get from our suffering. Just like the suffering produced perfection in Christ and then He was glorified and designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek, so is our suffering suppose to be produce perfection in us in the likeness of Jesus that we might be joint-heirs with Him, if we allow ourselves to be trained by it. The sufferings are not designed to break us, but rather to make us perfect and glorify us in the end. Paul said the suffering, painful as they may be, is nothing compared to the glory that will revealed in us if only we endure the process.

In my short life, I must confess I have passed through what appears like the valley of shadow of death. I might never have known the Lord like I do if not for the things that I have suffered. But the suffering painful as they were at that time helped me develop a relationship with God that I am enjoying now and also sharing with you. The sufferings have helped me to know sin as sin no matter how innocent they may appear and run away from such. The thought of never wanting to go back to those dark days of my life has glued me to the presence of God. And I have so remained in God's presence so that I now enjoy His presence.

For whatever struggles you might be facing, there is a purpose for it being there and it will not last forever. The moment you allow the Lord use those challenges to get you to where He wants you to be, they will disappear and your life will be refreshed again. We learned in the books of Psalms that when the Lord returned the captives to Zion, they were like them that dream dreams.

It is just as hurting to God as it is to you to allow you go through those challenges, remember He is your Father that loves you immeasurably, but in order that you might shine forth for the world to see, you need to go through the process and endure the process and attain perfection and receive the glory. You were not built by God to break.

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