Gaining Control of Our Rebel Souls

Our basic objective in life is to avoid pain at all costs. We want to be comfortable. We want to get in better shape, but we don’t want to sweat. We don’t want to feel any breakdown of the muscle or go through any kind of exertion. But no pain, no gain, as the expression goes. And what is true of the gym or the health club is also true of life. Pain reminds us of a deeper need.

For instance, we have the pangs of hunger, which reminds us of a deeper need: the need to eat. In the same way, when we go through pain it reminds us of a deeper need: the need for God in our lives. And God will teach us lessons in those valleys that we never would have learned on the mountaintops. He will teach us things we need to know and things we need to share with others, reminders that we are all passing through this life rather rapidly and that another life is coming.

C.S. Lewis wrote that pain “removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul.” God wants to plant His flag in our rebel souls. He wants to get control of our lives.

Now don’t get me wrong. As I’ve said before, the Christian life is the greatest life. You will have many moments and times of joy and happiness. But just know that hard times eventually will come. And adversity teaches us eternal truths we would not learn otherwise.

Jesus loves us, and He wants to be glorified through our lives. But He will not always remove suffering because it can make us stronger and give us a platform where we can glorify God and point others to Him.