How do athletes get stronger? Through pain. Through training. Through breaking down their bodies so that they are rebuilt stronger than before. How do armies get stronger? Through long marches and grueling exercises and having their capacities pushed to the limits. So how do Christians get stronger?
We’d like to answer, “By having really easy lives! By having everything go well all the time! By having God shower us with blessing after blessing!” Wait a minute… That’s not how it works, is it? Strength comes through adversity. Strength comes from being broken down again and again.
Know who knows that? God! He designed us and our world. That’s why he sends Christians trials and troubles. Not because he’s against us, but because he knows that the testing of our faith makes us stronger. In the Bible, Paul learned to say, “We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:3-4). Paul realized that like an athlete grows stronger by pushing his body through pain and difficulty, God strengthens us and our faith in him by allowing us to face suffering and adversity in our lives.
Have you noticed how you open your Bible more when times are hard? How you pray more when struggles come? How you turn to and trust in your Savior Jesus more when we realize you can’t do it on your own? How God creates in you more perseverance, character, and hope through each challenge you face? No matter what suffering God has placed in your life today, trust that God isn’t against you. God is for us! God is making your faith stronger. Stronger by using adversity to lead you to hope in him.
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