God is in the business of growing us up – conforming us into the image of Christ. And when life gets hard, we might discover we’ve been enrolled in his advanced course of character acquisition. We’re not blowing it. We’re simply being formed into the men he can entrust with his kingdom.
Elite warriors and future leaders have to submit to rigorous training to accomplish the mission given to them. And the same is true for us in God’s kingdom. While this might include cultivating our talents, gifts, and abilities and learning how to use these in the service of love, our advance training will also include character formation. Without being refined from the inside out, all our external skills will eventually fall flat, and potentially bring harm. We’d be like a kid trying to drive a car – having immense power at our fingertips but not knowing how to wield it well.
God’s masters in character acquisition forms us through seasons of unemployment, obscurity, waiting, and loneliness. We might have to face a loss of status and learn humility that prepares us for future ministry and service. Humility is also learned through our forgotten years of obscurity – working with little recognition or fanfare. And our patience will be exercised when we discover things will not be executed on our timeline. Likewise, we’re taught a deeper reliance on God when we realize others can only walk with us so far before we must continue alone with him.
To be sure, none of these courses seem pleasant at the time. And we would opt out of them if we could. But God is after our hearts and is preparing us for a lifetime of fruitful work in his kingdom. He wants us to finish strong and not burn out due to our lack of depth and character formation.
In the end, your suffering is not pointless. God’s training in character acquisition includes many courses in humility and learning utter dependence on him. Allow yourself to be transformed and used for his glory.
Photo by Terrillo Walls on Unsplash
