To what extent should we love others? Is loving worth losing? Is having compassion worth never receiving it in return?

Sometimes God uses beautiful things to teach us. Other times, He does not.

Sometimes He sends us lessons floating on people’s smiles when we are at our lowest — happiness in the simplest random acts of kindness. Other times He uses our striving to prevent awful things from happening, the tireless work to hold onto things we love when His answer is still “no.” In the fall He uses the relaxing breeze of nature — leaves cascading in a breathtaking painted waterfall. Others He takes our breath away with mourning, sobs for opportunities untaken and people who leave. Sometimes it comes easy, comforting, inviting. Other times our lessons are taught from the very cruelty of this world.

In this season there is nothing more beautiful than enjoying a pocket of quiet time on the porch praying and listening to the world breathe. If you’ve heard what I’m talking about you’ll find that description isn’t all that artistic — the trees fluctuate back and forth, the wind ripples and recedes.

Cliche as it is, all Creation takes a breath.

People are being beaten somewhere.

A child is screaming, abused.

The devil is crushing the church with his ideologies by seeping in and blowing holes through its walls — but over all of it God breathes His power. He sees it all.

He withholds his hand.

He kicks coals onto the fire, seeing the final debt being satisfied in a flaming image already before Him. He breathed goodness and calm over the earth without a movement because even a breath of His would shatter us — protecting His Creation where He sees fit so it retains vague traces of beauty. The traces of Him represent how it was supposed to be. Sometimes He lets us see those traces. 

Other times, they seem impossible to see — the abomination of what was originally right and good making it now difficult to distinguish one from the other. Excruciating pain carves wisdom in us — the world likes to pretend to be painless but true pain is avoided through the constant working from His hands on our hearts. Like a wood worker He chips us away, like a potter He crushes us with His fists. He sends us into the fire for our final refinement. The flame licks our sides as we ask “God how much longer?”. The scabs spread over our skin until we scrape them in agony. Still, through it all we feel His love. We can somehow learn and emerge. We can endure and enjoy hope if nothing else - little moments of happiness He gives us in inexplicable ways. We love Him because he first loved us. And we trust Him because we know He will never use His power to break us. 

We go through the fire and the pain because his son is with us in it — and it is His son that He does not withhold His hand from breaking. So we will never have to ask “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” — this grief has been reserved for One.

Think about it. When God looks at His people, He sees Jesus. Perfect Jesus. Righteous Jesus. Jesus, who never did a thing wrong. When we sin, God breaks Him. He gets the punishment for every wrong. Though the wrath culminated on the cross, unbound by time God punished Him for every single sin we’ve made or will make. 

Not sinning? It’s hard. It takes commitment and causes pain that can feel like death. But that is exactly what Paul means by “taking joy in his sufferings.” It is a joy to acknowledge Christ’s suffering — and suffer it gladly with Him. We are not forsaken by God - we suffer at intervals but if anything learn from it. We are able to come out of the fire refined, not broken, not forsaken in ashes. Even Jesus couldn’t boast this. Though He rose to life, His physical impact on people as a human being would never be the same — His human body melted away while ours are left unscathed and unpunished, equipped to do His work. He said Himself that we would make sacrifices as He did and do even more than he. Because now, God would never forsake us. Every iniquity has been placed on Him instead.

In the middle of this lovely season, I would hate to say nothing but depressing things. But do we live like Christ is suffering? Do we live life willing to suffer? Does pain scare us or is it an honorable feat to share in Christ’s suffering? Have you ever thought about it?

To be completely frank, I am saved from a lot of suffering. I have seen others suffer and cried for hours over their pain but even then I have never faced many significant first-hand trials. I have never been through so many awful things I have seen people go through, so depending on your experience, gauge how much my two cents is worth. Is Jesus worth dying to yourself? Is He worth giving your sufferings to God and sharing in them with His Son? Is the compassion worth the pain — is knowing people who hurt worth the excruciating agony it leaves behind?

Your answer is your own.

But allow me to share a story of a man I know.

We say a lot of fanciful things about people who aren’t with us any more — I’ll try to make this as realistic as possible, as true to the person this man really was and is. He was a youth pastor. A wife and two kids — simplicity made him smile and his sweet family’s beauty made him beam with joy. He gave when he had plenty to give. He gave when he had just enough. And as time went on, I watched him give when he had nothing. He had compassion when he was strong and when he was at his weakest. He prayed for others and served others. I remember plenty of funny quirky things about him. But the thing that won’t fade in my memory even if the little details about him do, is that even in suffering he had compassion on the suffering. He had a need and gave what he had left. He had a wound and bandaged many of mine. 

For respect of his family who has recently lost him, I won’t say much but I’ll tell one story that has repeated in my mind since it happened. This year I have had some broken times. I stand by the fact that I’ve had to endure very little suffering. But I am obligated to believe that the devil spots those who want to do God’s will and seeks to get in their head. I had a series of panic attacks and felt nothing short of discouraged. I felt like I could hear the devil laughing over me, laying on my couch staring at the ceiling as tears steamed down my face in anger at my own weakness. Out of the blue I remembered something I needed to tell this man. I wiped my nose and sent a quick text sharing what I had to say with a bit of encouragement for him as he was to have a medical procedure the next day. He didn’t reply to what I said really — to anyone who read it, it wouldn’t have been much of a reply at all. It was only three words but for a girl who was striving for success and failing on all accounts and was laying gripped by anxiety and alone, it meant the world to me. “You’re wonderful, Ally.” It said. Call me vain for saying it encouraged me so much, but if you know the kind of person I am talking about, you know that it is something to be proud of if he calls you wonderful.

He did the work of the Lord for years and I saw him suffer through it but the thought occurred to me that he would never have traded the compassion he had on people for the suffering. He would never take back a kind thing he said, he would never revoke a night spent serving people when he was at the end of his strength. With tears pouring from my face I felt God using this gifted man to work even after he had gone — in a way someone can only be used if they have surrendered to the Lord and suffered for Him. I looked over his life of patient suffering equaling his compassion for others and realized I had fallen short of showing so many people that compassion. And there is nothing I have wanted more since — than to actively show compassion to everyone, even at my worst. 

God uses awful things to teach us sometimes. It’s just a fact. It’s not that he uses them more than He uses good things but He isn’t afraid to use suffering in our lives. He allows the suffering but works through it. He doesn’t wait for good, happy times to work — He works even when everything is going wrong. Suffering is unavoidable. Through Jesus, however, we can suffer and learn.

I still have a world of things to learn about suffering in the future but God has prepared me for it well. I don’t know what the future holds but I know who holds the future — and every morning I remind myself to trust Him, prioritize others first, and never withhold love for fear of suffering. It is always worth having loved. Christlike love of any kind and at any cost is never wasted!

Don’t take my word for it. God’s Word is full of examples of His love and compassion that never went to waste.

This first one is my favorite -

“Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.”

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭6‬-‭8‬ ‬‬

He chose suffering so we could live forever and serve Him to the fullest while we were on this earth!

Second, it was always the Lord’s plan to crush His Son and spare us.

“But it was the LORD’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the LORD’s good plan will prosper in his hands.”

Isaiah 53:10

Still, this is not how it was supposed to be. In the garden before death existed in the world we know, God had a different plan for His fellowship with us.

“The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭2‬:‭15‬

“And He said, ‘My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.’ Then he said to Him, ‘If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here…’”

Exodus 33:14-15a

“When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees.”

Genesis 3:8

Through Jesus’ sacrifice, God now sees the righteousness of His Son when He looks at us. By His blood we are able to walk with God without any barriers! We are forgiven!

“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”

Hebrews 4:16

Not out of necessity to receive love in return, but because of His love for us, we are called to love others.

“This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

‭‭John‬ ‭15‬:‭12‬-‭13‬

©Goodstrong Words. Oct 2022