<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ\u201d (1 Peter 1:6,7).<\/p>\n
PAINFUL CIRCUMSTANCES, LIKE MOST THINGS IN LIFE, CAN BE LOOKED AT IN MORE THAN ONE WAY. As Christians, we ought to want to look at everything, including something as unpleasant as pain, in a truthful<\/em> way. We should want to view it as God Himself does, and usually this means looking at it from a wider perspective. When we\u2019re hurting, we need to see more of the reality of the situation than the mere fact that we\u2019re hurting.<\/p>\n One thing we need to understand is that anyone who lives in this world, a world ruined by sins committed before we got here, is going to hurt. The experience of pain is a fact of life, an unavoidable difficulty. No one knows this more than Jesus Christ, who suffered greatly despite never having made a single bad decision as to His own manner of living. If right living protected a person from pain, Jesus would never have known pain, but not only did He know it, He knew it deeply. He was \u201cdespised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief\u201d (Isaiah 53:3).<\/p>\n Yet if pain is necessary, much of the anguish that often goes with it is not. And again, Jesus is our example. He drank deeply of the cup of torment, but even in the moments of His greatest agony, it\u2019s hard for us to imagine Him experiencing any of the negative emotions that normally make pain so horrible for us. For example, much of our suffering comes from anger, resentment, and self-pity. But Jesus refused to respond to pain in any of these ways, and consequently His pain was much purer. Peter, therefore, referring to Christ\u2019s attitude toward pain, said to his fellow Christians, \u201cArm yourselves also with the same mind\u201d (1 Peter 4:1).<\/p>\n We may find it hard to do, but it\u2019s possible even to rejoice<\/em> in the midst of pain. \u201cIn this you greatly rejoice,\u201d said Peter, \u201cthough now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith . . . may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.\u201d The key to this thinking is this: seeing pain against the backdrop of salvation.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cPain is inevitable. Suffering is optional\u201d (Anonymous).<\/p>\n Gary Henry \u2013 WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com<\/p>\n