Suffering is Not the Enemy

While I write this I have a baby with a fever. He is struggling and hurting as his body fights off something that is bad for him. This pain, his struggle to get better, and our struggle to help him, are so important for his future life, so why do we so vilify suffering? Is it because we so glorify pleasure and relaxation? There is so much good that comes through suffering. Every baby comes into this world through suffering. We suffer to grow, to learn to become stronger. We suffer for those we love. Like loneliness shows us our need for others, all our suffering points us toward a need and how we might fill it - ultimately in God. The greatest example and ultimately the reason we should actually lift up suffering, is Jesus Christ. He took on the worst suffering anyone could ever endure and His suffering and death became the very means by which we are redeemed so that we too might know peace, purpose, and life in its abundance with God. We are also called to be like Jesus and suffer in faith that God will work through all of it. We should not seek to end suffering at all costs, rather suffering is something that can and should lead all of us to a greater life in Christ.