The Value of Pain

Back to the Coaching Series! Previously I touched on the idea of the athlete trusting their coach, pushing themselves to weakness in order to be stronger, and the pain that often comes with growth. But I’d like to get into those topics a bit more with this post.

This summer I watched with great pride and joy as my gymnasts competed and scored very well on their routines. They worked hard to perfect their skills, and accepted last minute changes that we, their coaches, made with grace.

But now we are at the beginning of a new “gymnastics year”. That means we put routines on hold for a while and go back to some basics. We tackle strength and flexibility, we work to improve their form, break bad habits, and increase their skill set. And this means putting them through pain and frustration. In order to increase flexibility, we literally push them further into their splits and other positions. To make muscles stronger, they will do hundreds of repetitions of drills that work specific muscles and muscle groups. Their muscles will be pushed to a point of weakness so they can be made stronger. Because that’s how it works, in order to become stronger, an athlete must first go through weakness.

Improving form and breaking bad habits is hard. It takes time. I know that there are some girls that will work for the next year on some of these things. They may not learn anything new this year, except how to do what they have already been doing better. And it’s frustrating, especially when it seems like everyone else is moving on and working on things that are much more fun. It’s at this point that we don’t just coach them physically, but mentally and emotionally too. A great athlete is not just made up of muscle and talent. There is also, grit, determination, perseverance, commitment, and trust in the process and their coach.

There is pain involved in growth. But there is a difference between growing pains and harm. Athletes know this. Paul even says in 1 Corinthians 9:27, “I beat my body to make it my slave.” Training is hard, and the athlete has to be aware of how their bodies are working for them, and against them.

And so it is with our spiritual lives. If God is our coach, then He is going to push us to places where we feel weak and frustrated. Our faith must be tested and endure trials in order to be strengthened and reinforced. We don’t just get a strong faith by believing and attending church. We get a strong faith by suffering through pain and trials. Oswald Chambers says, “Faith must be tested and tried before it becomes real in your life.” And often times the response to something like this is from 1 Corinthians 10:13, “And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” But do we really know how strong we are?

Consider this clip from the movie, Facing the Giants:

Brock would have given up and stopped at the 50 yard line if he knew he were there. I guarantee you that his muscles were burning, and fatigue was hitting his entire body as he crossed the half way point. But his coach knew he had more in him and could do more, and so he pushed him, encouraging, yelling, and making him believe he would make it despite the pain he was in. The movie goes on to show that Brock comes away from the experience a changed person, he grew in maturity and emerged as a leader on the team—something that would have never happened had he not been pushed into pain and a blind struggle across a football field. Our Heavenly Coach knows our strength and how far we can be pushed and tempted. When things go from bad to worse, it isn’t that God isn’t listening or paying attention to us, or that He has forgotten us. He knows we are capable of more, and that from the depths of our struggles comes a maturity of faith that can be achieved no other way.

James 1:2-4 says it well:

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

And that is the goal isn’t it? To be mature and complete?

 

We are on God’s team, and he is going to shape us into the best disciples of Christ that we can be this side of heaven. He doesn’t just want us to saunter across the finish line, He wants us to break a sweat, push ourselves hard, and run for gold. It’s not just about being strong, it’s about competing and finishing well.

Paul calls us athletes that are running the race and that we all ought to run to get the prize, the gold medal. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 says:

²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. ²⁵ Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ²⁶ Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. ²⁷ No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

This is why we endure trials and pain—for the gold. The pain is temporary, the trials have an end. After they are done and gone, there is the prize: our salvation and eternity with God.

But that being said, the pain can be brutal.

Christ modeled how we are to act, how we are to love, and how we are to trust our Heavenly Father. Remember in the Garden of Gethsemane? In Matthew 26:38, Jesus says, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” Jesus was stressed out about the pain and suffering that were to come. In verse 39, Matthew saw, “he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” These are the prayers of a man in great pain and turmoil who is clinging to his faith with all he has in him. Luke 22:44 says that Jesus was sweating blood. He was so tense and overwhelmed that he was breaking blood capillaries in his skin and bleeding. Yet he was faithful, because he knew that the pain was temporary. Excruciating, but temporary.

Just as I train my gymnasts and make plans to put them in pain with the conditioning and drills I run them through, so God trains us. His plans for us, though painful, are for our good, for our salvation, and for our eternal health. We must trust our coach through the pain and frustration of growth.