what doesn't kill you makes you... stranger

In A Year with the Church Fathers today, we hear from St John Chrysostom. He tells us about blasphemy. And if you're unclear on the subject, it's one of the ten commandments, so it's a big deal. And it means saying "God" or "Jesus" as an expletive. Adding other curse words makes it worse, but just saying those words when you're angry is blasphemy. Just KNOWING that helps most people to stop doing it. Many people don't realize that saying "Jesus" when they're mad is blasphemy. And St John says to stop doing it, because then the enemy will stop sending you reasons to do it. If every time you get angry, you let fly with a bunch of cuss words that involve "God" and "Jesus", the enemy will send you more reasons to do it.

And this is precisely where St John gets interesting. He says that when that happens, you experience the suffering "without the benefit." Now, what does that mean?

Well, you find some of the answer in the pic above. There are many benefits to suffering. In our culture today, we have lost sight of the benefits of suffering. We see suffering as an intrinsically bad thing to be avoided at all costs. Take a pill, pump the chemicals, smoke something, drink something, and if all else fails, kill yourself to avoid pain. The debate about the wisdom of euthanasia today is a product of our culture's losing sight of the benefit of suffering.

All of the above reasons (in the pic) are true. In addition, the church teaches us that we can participate in the redemption of the world through our suffering. Here is the verse in the New Testament that talks about this concept and an article that describes what it means. But the gist is that our suffering can be joined to that of Jesus, and can help redeem the world.

If that's too nebulous and esoteric for you, then just focus on the list in the picture. Those are very good reasons to let our suffering make us better people.

We're all going to suffer at one time or another. Will you let it make you better, or bitter? It's your choice.

God, thank You for even making suffering a redemptive thing in our lives. Please help us understand how suffering makes us better.