being refined by a God who loves.
why christians suffer more.
have you ever been in a situation where you compare your life to your non-christian friends and wonder, why does their life look easier than mine?
everything seems to work out for them.
opportunities overflow.
they easily get what they want.
they move through life without obstacles.
while you, on the other hand. go to church every sunday.
pray every day. read your bible.
try your best to still honour God in the quiet stillness no one sees. and bring you to your knees, surrendering your silent battles.
yet somehow it still feels like you’re still barely making it through.
our generation often carries this perception that christians live perfect lives.
that faith is some kind of guarantee that if you love God, life will unfold smoothly.
because we depend on a God who loves us.
and God does loves you. that part is true.
but it doesn’t conceal the truth that we also follow a God who shapes us.
a God who corrects, strengthens, and protects.
a God who cares enough about our hearts to not leave us the same.
and that process does not feel easy.
it often feels like resistance.
us christians suffer in ways that are often invisible; cause it’s in the internal battle in our hearts that we fight.
we fight conviction.
we fight condemnation.
we fight the quiet war between our worldly desires and what we know God is calling us to do.
the internal battles of faith.
we see and feel the same things everyone else sees. whether it’s the form of temptations, anger, addiction, the list goes on.
the same desire to take the easier path.
the same curiosity about the life we could live if we simply stopped resisting.
but faith means we resist. faith means we are set apart.
and sometimes it can look lonely.
sometimes it means to wait longer than everyone else.
sometimes it looks like watching people receiving things you prayed for.
quietly wondering if God has forgotten about you.
but suffering in faith is different from suffering without it.
because while the world measures life by what we gain,
God measures life by what we become.
and sometimes His children who are struggling the most are actually the ones being refined the deepest.
i loved this metaphor from one of my favourite pastors, Alex Seeley — God shapes us like clay into a pot meant to hold oil and pour out. the refining process isn’t easy: the clay is kneaded, spun, and moulded. once it takes shape, it goes into the kiln, the hot fire, to be strengthened and hardened. finally, it is glazed to protect the pot so it can serve its purpose.
God, the king of kings gets his hands dirty to mould you into who you are now. to strengthen and give you purpose.
another added metaphor to this, is from a favourite of mine, Missy De Jong, she shared a picture of a plant, planted in a big pot which sits outside her house and when she asks people to water it, she doesn’t call it “the plant in the big pot.” she calls it by the name of the plant inside the pot.
it reminds us that what really mattered was never the container, the surface, or what holds, breaks and scratches us, but what’s inside, and what is continuously growing.
He calls us by who we are inside not outside, not by the imperfections (although there aren’t any because he fearfully and wonderfully made you) from your mistakes, your past, your sin, but by your name.
because being a christian is not just trying to build a life that feels and looks good.
it’s trying to build a life that is continuously faithful and growing.
that kind of life requires surrender.
so yes, sometimes it feels like we suffer more.
not because God loves us less,
but because he is shaping hearts that last.
and that eternal love is so worth the wait.
- p