Deepen or Derail
Week 8 | The Purgative Way
How we choose to respond to pain and suffering, in all its varying degrees, will inevitably do one of two things: either deepen or derail our formation into Christlikeness.
What do we do with a tragic accident, arthritis spreading around our joints, a relationship that refuses to mend, a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, or the loss of a child?
It’s an inescapable truth that how we respond to affliction will significantly shape the person we become.
What we need to obtain in the Purgative Way is the skill of turning hardships into holiness — so effortless to say and so difficult to do.
However, for nearly twenty-one centuries, the wisest Christian writers have said it is possible — affliction can be so much more than misfortune. It can be deep transformation. For not one drop of suffering or pain can derail our journey with Jesus.
It’s just the opposite — all of these shadowed valleys and billowed seas can be catalysts to deeper degrees of humility, nudging us closer to that one great hope in our heart: to love like God loves.
Room to Reflect
Which “shadowed valleys” in your life have led to greater dependence on God?
What practices or prayers help you keep your heart open to formation — even in the middle of pain?
Do you find it comforting, or challenging, to think that affliction might actually move us closer to loving like God loves?
Jonathan, thank you for your good and true words. Yes , the suffering from the rejection of our beloved child has become the journey into heart of Jesus.
Such significant honouring of hard truths …