Endurance, Character, Hope, Love & Suffering

Around 2010, my wife and I moved to Colorado, and as part of our relocation from Texas, we built a home on the northeast side of Colorado Springs. We had so much fun working with the builder on our new home, and we very much enjoyed doing much of the landscaping ourselves.

As a part of our landscaping, we planted a small apple tree on the side of the house. We liked the idea of having fresh apples grow in our yard and being able to pick them as they grew. While this was a great idea, the tree did not cooperate.

For three straight years, the tree hardly grew and didn't produce one single apple. Before I resorted to cutting it down and starting over, I consulted a friend who was very knowledgeable about gardening and fruit trees. I told him about my dysfunctional apple tree and how, despite all of our best efforts, we ended up with a productionless tree that seemed destined for the fire pit. In no time, he had given me the answer.

When we planted the tree, we put two stakes in the ground with wires that wrapped around the small tree trunk and supported the tree. Being a novice to landscaping, I did not realize that the supports should have been removed within the first year. As my friend explained, "the stakes and wire are only there to help the tree get started once it is planted. It allows young trees to get established and grow roots, but they should be removed within the first year. For the tree to grow strong and get to the point it can bear fruit, it needs to be able to stand on its own. The wind and weather serve to help the tree mature as it builds up strength and resistance, and once that happens, it will begin to produce apples."

Sure enough, I took off the support system that had limited the tree's growth, and in the next year, it finally began to grow and produce apples. And to think that I was ready to end the experiment!

The Benefit of Pain

Too often in life, we seek to avoid or eliminate pain or discomfort. When we face life's difficulties, we often look for the path of least resistance. When we do this, much like my tree, we fail to mature or bear any fruit.

In his letter to the Roman church, Paul speaks about the pain and trials that will come into our lives and provides a very clear picture of the benefits we receive when we endure hardship. He writes the following in chapter 5, "We can rejoice too when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance, and endurance produces strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love."

Notice that Paul does not say if, but "when" trials will come. We will all, at certain times in our lives have hardship, pain, struggle, and trials, but when we look at how God uses it to give us endurance, improve our character, hope that does not disappoint (the word hope in the original text is an expectation or assuredness of something to come) and His love, it is why we are able to rejoice in the midst of it.

All For The Greater Good

We live in a world that is obsessed with self. Continually, we are fed messages about loving yourself (this is nowhere in scripture), being true to yourself, and taking care of yourself so you can take care of others.

All of these may be well-meaning and sound good, but I do not have the starring role in my life. God does!

Later in his Romans letter, Paul writes this, "And we know (hope assured), that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

This is a verse that is often used to help comfort those who are going through a struggle, and while it is a comfort, to simply use this verse as a way of telling people that good things are coming their way is to miss the point entirely. The whole point of this verse and the ones that precede and follow it is that I am here to fulfill the purpose of God, and He is most concerned with His glory, honor, and that His will be done.

This is why even when faced with the agony of the cross, Christ the Son was able to say to the Father, "not my will, but yours."

When I try to tell God what good is and avoid any pain in the process, I am telling God that His glory, honor, and purpose need to take a back seat to my idea of good and my desire for comfort. This way of living is a dangerous place to be, for we know from Scripture that God is a righteously jealous God and will not let anything deter Him from fulfilling His purposes.

If you are in the midst of pain, trials, or struggle, know that if you are a child of God, you are not alone and that He is using all your trials for His purpose, for His good, and to make you more like His Son.

All of these things are why we can and should rejoice in our struggles, and with assured hope, we can remove the supports that we have been clinging to, which, when held too long, will only serve to stymie our growth.

Running the Race With You,

Carlos

This edition was first published in The Life Design Newsletter on LinkedIn.