Growth Through Pain, Part 2

It is generally acknowledged that growth comes through pain. I suppose this is the reason that we sometimes hear people speak of growing pains. As an avid exerciser, I know that muscle growth comes about through the muscles being subjected to the pain of resistance. As we say at the gym, “No pain, no gain.” And considering the pain I endured in my last two exercise classes, I am expecting some gain.

As parents we chasten our children to purge them of foolishness and to promote their personal growth. In the absence of the pain of chastening, children do not grow up as they ought.

Proverbs 22:15 Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

Proverbs 23:13 Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.

14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

Proverbs 29:15 The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.

The pain of correction will not kill the child, even if he thinks it is killing him. Indeed, from our earliest years we grow through pain. And so is it in our spiritual growth under the care of our heavenly Father. The following passage teaches that greater spiritual fruitfulness results from the pain of God’s chastening of His children for their disobedience.

Hebrews 12:9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

Our sister Sandy Laba had this interesting insight that I want to pass on to you:

The whole conclusion of the matter is that when I began praying for wisdom, I was so unwise that I thought the Lord just dropped it on you somehow, but now I agree with Solomon who said that wisdom doesn't come easily, but comes only through God's hard workouts:

"And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith."

"...yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge."

How right you are, Sandy.

In the passages we have considered so far, we have seen how growth comes through pain that is inflicted upon us through trials and chastening. But we do not have to wait for something painful to happen to us in order to grow. In fact, we are commanded to grow.

2 Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

But we will not grow if we always take the path of ease and least resistance. If we would forward our own spiritual growth, we have to take ourselves through pain to get there. For example, you may be shy and, therefore, have trouble greeting a visitor at church. Or it may be very hard for you to rebuke a brother involved in sin. Or you may have difficulty speaking to an inquirer about your faith. Or you may experience great anxiety praying in front of other people. Or you might have trouble just being in a crowd of people like we have in our assemblies. Or it may be especially hard for you to chasten your child. Or you might tend to avoid the commitment of close friendships and so deprive yourself of the personal growth that comes through such relationships. Or you may struggle with saying “no” to your appetite for something. Just the thought of some of these things may bring on painful anxiety for you. Yet you will never overcome these things until you endure the pain and push yourself beyond your comfort zone. To grow beyond these limits will indeed involve suffering some pain. But, remember, “no pain, no gain.”

As I bring this meditation to a close, let us be reminded that our Lord Jesus Christ did not choose the path of least resistance. He pushed through all His anxieties and went to the painful cross of Calvary that He might save us. Through His great pain has come the great gain of countless multitudes of redeemed souls with whom He shall enjoy glorious fellowship for all eternity in that blessed place of which it is written: “…neither shall there be any more pain” (Revelation 21:4). By the time we arrive there we shall have finally grown up. Hence, there shall be no more pain. Thanks be to God for our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Growth Through Pain, Part 1

I have recently come across a couple of things in my reading that stress that personal and spiritual growth comes through pain. I would like to quote these passages that I have read in the hope that they will be the blessing to you that they have been to me.

On page 355 of her book, Total Truth, author Nancy Pearcey writes:

All of us discover at some point that the most profound spiritual growth typically comes through crises. Because we are fallen creatures living in a fallen world, the winnowing of our character is usually a painful process.

And then I was blessed with this passage from an article by Bishop Fulton Sheen:

Our uneasiness even in the midst of thrills is a kind of pain. As Sir Almroth Wright has put it, “A pain in the mind is the prelude to all discovery.” We generally do not strive to solve a problem until it hurts us to leave it unsolved; many of us would not move unless the unsolved problem hurt us badly.

Even fallen men, who have never tasted God’s salvation, often require a crisis to stir their creative potential in seeking solutions to the crisis. It has been said that “necessity is the mother of invention.” People tend to just drift along making no advancement so long as things are easy. Now to be sure, growth means change and change can itself be a painful experience as it involves effort, trial and error, awkwardness, and fear of the unknown. When do people with a problem seek change? When do they seek a solution? People seek change when the pain of the problem becomes greater than the pain of change.

As we find ourselves in the midst of an economic crisis when people are losing their jobs, their homes, and their investments, this thought of growth through pain should encourage us. It will be interesting to see just how resourceful people become as things become more difficult. It is amazing what people can do when the pain of circumstances forces them.

As for God’s children, who have been saved by His grace, they still bear a fallen nature that ever gravitates to the path of least resistance. Although they have the grace of God within them, they all too often do not use that grace to attain greater spiritual growth unless they are spurred on by a crisis, by something that hurts them. It is for this reason that we read verses like this in the Bible:

Psalms 119:71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

James 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Those words perfect and entire describe a believer that has reached full maturity. But observe that this stage of advanced growth is reached through the work of patience that is experienced in the trial of faith. It takes the purging of the fiery trial to purify the gold so as realize its full value.

1 Peter 1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

The pain of the fiery trial brings about the perfecting, the maturing of the believer. It is a process of growth through pain. I have some more to write about this, but we’ll save it for next time.