At the beginning of every new year, many face old-year sorrows—the death of a loved one, unresolved injustice, financial difficulties, health challenges, relationship breakdowns, and more. The question that naturally follows is, “If I’m saved and a ‘citizen of heaven’, then why does God bring so much pain and trouble into my life? What did I do wrong?” It sometimes makes us think we’re being punished and may even make us doubt we’re part of God’s family.
Suffering is a puzzle to most people, Christian or otherwise. If we suffer without a purpose, it is destructive to body, mind, and soul. But here’s the good news. When we suffer with a purpose, particularly a divine, eternal purpose, it builds and grows us. Human experience bears this out.
Looking over 2,000 years of Christian history, I believe our trouble and pain are “supervised suffering,” and we need it to go the distance. Supervised suffering is a hard truth to accept, because it challenges our understanding of a loving and caring God.
Let me explain.
The New Testament teaches us that God credits Jesus’ righteousness to us on the grounds of pure grace, unmerited favor. Through the cross, Jesus takes upon himself our sin, then “imputes” or transfers his righteousness to us, so that when the Father looks upon us, he sees the merits of his Son. He is therefore satisfied that our debt of sin—past, present, and future—is atoned for and paid in full.
But there is another piece to this puzzle. “Imputation” is followed by “impartation”. We know it as “sanctification”. Imputation is the only thing that gets us through the door of the eternal kingdom; the second puts us on the road to “Christlikeness,” Christian maturity in this life. After conversion to Christ, the Holy Spirit begins the process of sanctification, making us progressively more like Jesus the Son.
The important thing to know is that we aren’t saved because we are sanctified. We are sanctified because we have been sovereignly adopted as God’s children—we are already saved!
The way to spiritual maturity, being transformed into Christlikeness, does not occur overnight. Instead, it lasts throughout our lifespan. Much of it consists of suffering: pain, trouble, hard knocks, difficulties that come in all shapes, sizes, and ways. All this is not something we want or enjoy—nor do we have to pretend that we are—but this has proven to be the main avenue toward spiritual growth and trust in God, becoming tried and true, road-tested, durable (1 Peter 1:3-7).
The important fact for us to know is that suffering is not necessarily a sign that God is angry with us and is punishing us. It could signify a period of loving, parental discipline in response to some form of rebellion. However, it is still “supervised suffering”—it is meant for our good, to bring us to the higher place he has planned for us, and so that we won’t continue in sin and destructive behavior.
Furthermore, God’s training, equipping, and steeling, much like the soldier in boot camp, is prepared for service. We are receiving tailor-made adversity, perfectly fitted to each of us for a double purpose: not only to strengthen us, but also to weaken us.
We are being trained to be stronger and weaker at the same time. Stronger in our dependence upon God, and weaker in our reliance upon ourselves. God knows exactly what our weaknesses are and how to transform them into the kind of strength required to serve him faithfully, and for life.
Here are a few examples from history of people who were set on a course of great adversity to accomplish what God had decreed for them. Of course, the model for this is Jesus Christ himself. In Hebrews, we read that Jesus learned obedience through what he suffered (Hebrews 5:8). If Jesus had to learn it, why would we not?
Martin Luther, a struggling, tormented monk, learned obedience in the same way, a process that healed and prepared him for a life’s work that transformed all of Europe, and eventually the world.
John Knox spent 19 months as a galley slave learning how to pray, becoming his defining feature that frightened the powerful and won the nation of Scotland to Jesus.
Saint Patrick served time as a kidnapped slave to cruel pirates, an experience that prepared and equipped him spiritually to lead Ireland to the Christian faith.
No apostle, martyr, missionary, or effective Christian ever learned to serve without rigorous life preparation. We could add to this list names such as China missionary Gladys Aylward, concentration camp survivor Corrie Ten Boom, Bible smuggler Brother Andrew, and the virtual army of believers worldwide who have been serving and fighting in the trenches for the Gospel of Jesus.
We should never forget that the loving “Supervisor” of this sweeping project of human transformation is the God of grace, mercy, and kindness himself. God lovingly prunes his trees to make them sturdier, healthier, and more fruitful. The sight of a recently pruned tree is shocking, but it is God’s way of making it reach its designed potential. We marvel at it later when it is better, stronger, and more beautiful.
Although there is nothing pleasant about our suffering, in God’s hands, and within his purpose, it produces the fruit of Christlikeness. It is this that prepares us for a life of fruitful endeavor on this earth, and happily, it outfits us for our eternal joy.
God is the greatest architect, builder, and most brilliant strategist in the universe, who is perfectly successful in all he designs for his glory. Let us offer to God all that we have, are, and will be.
- Jesus Is Lord - February 27, 2026
- The Path to Healing: Pamela Good’s Transformative Faith Journey - February 3, 2026
- Fantasy Meets Faith: Wilson Hickman on “The Lost Healer” and Creating Authentic Characters - January 23, 2026
