THE PURPOSE OF PAIN...

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory... we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.
-- 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

One of my favorite movies is The Princess Bride. Those who have suffered through it in my presence will attest that I annoyingly quote about 70% of the dialogue. And one of the great lines spoken by Wesley - the perfect farm boy, but unrecognized, due to his disguise as the Dread Pirate Roberts - is: "Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something."

That may sound overly pessimistic. After all, The Princess Bride is a happily-ever-after fairy-tale love-story. But there is some truth to the line. If we are alive, we will experience pain. The pain of rejection... the pain of death... the pain of loss... the pain of betrayal... and on.

We will face pain.

But that is only part of the story...

Pain is not the end. 

Pain leads us to something deeper. 

There is a part of our character that cannot be forged in the absence of pain's furnace. And it truly is in the desperate times, the lonely times, the desert times, the painful times, that we find our character malleable in the hands of the Master Craftsman, who molds our lives. And he does so without mistake, and always with purpose. We may see only the scars in the short term. But in the hands of the Potter, that which initially scars ultimately produces the beauty of the design. 

Paul writes:

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show the surpassing power 

belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; 

perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken;

struck down, but not destroyed.

-- 2 Corinthians 4:7-9 

If I were preaching, I might use an outline like this:

- Pain prepares...

- Pain has purpose...

- Pain is temporary...

- Pain cannot compare with what lies beyond it! 

God, help me to live by what is unseen.

For now...

D