Suffering Is Our Medicine
A New Year conversation with Mama about heaven, John 3:16, suffering, and the kind of faith that does not only know Christ but truly desires Him.
My mama asked me once, “Is heaven real?”
It was a quiet conversation. Just the two of us.
“Yes, ma. That is what the Bible says.”
“For God so loved the world that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16.
“If there is no heaven, ma, our whole life will just be about sickness and pain. Then we die.”
“There is no meaning. There is no sense.”
“That is why I choose to believe Christ. I choose to believe in a meaningful life.”
In the middle of suffering and death, we choose to believe God is real. We choose to put our faith in Him.
But true faith is not only a matter of the mind.
My inner voice used to answer questions like that with empty words.
“I made the right decisions. I will be saved.”
“I believe anyway.”
If you have ever told yourself that, I have been there.
I know what it is like to have right words and still need God to correct the posture of my heart.
Even the devils know God is real. They know Jesus. They do not worship Him. They hate Him. They have the right knowledge. They do not love Him.
It is not intelligence that saves us. It is not riches. It is not the traditions of our religion. It is not the answer we learned to say.
True love for the Lord is loving Him when no one is looking. True love for the Lord is loving Him when your world is collapsing.
Many of us live our Christian faith like cheating wives.
She says and does all the good things for her husband. But it is all for duty. Not one bit of happiness and love.
At night, she goes to her paramour. That is where she feels the love she truly desires.
She has the ability to love her husband. She has the opportunity. She has no desire for him.
That is the scary part.
We can have the ability. We can have the opportunity. And still not have the desire.
We go to church on Sunday for duty. We think we are being faithful.
Then Monday to Saturday, God is not the boss. God is not significant. In our heart, He is only a tiny little thought.
This is why suffering is our medicine.
Suffering does not save us. Christ saves us.
But suffering can expose what we really love. It can show us how small money becomes. How small beauty becomes. How small fame becomes.
If you are as desperate as a dying old man, you will not desire riches. You will not desire beauty. You will not desire fame.
You would want death to be erased. You would want eternal life.
You would want Christ.
Suffering is our medicine because it heals us from our self-centeredness. It gives us child-like joy in Christ. It teaches our hearts to stop pretending that this short life is enough.
This new year and the coming years of my life, I want one aim.
I am praying that we will truly have the desire. The ability. The opportunity. To be happy in God forever.
Not only for a hundred years. But forever.
Happiness that never ends.
If you truly want to desire Christ, please pray with me.
Our Father in Heaven, help me believe. Help me to truly believe in Christ. Give me a new heart capable of loving You the way I should.
We are just a small dot in God’s vast universe.
It is not about perfection. It is about direction.
For the glory of God.
- Lala