Old Truth: The Problem with Pleasure

Jim Bublitz has an excellent post on suffering and how we in America often view it. I really encourage you to read this post because it will really help put things in proper perspective. Jim suffers from the same genetic condition as our son Jonathan. Informally called “brittle bone disease”, Osteogenesis Imperfecta is a genetic condition that causes frequent fractures and often bone pain and other difficulties. Jonathan, our son, was born with his ankles broken. He has scars all over his body from the surgeries to repair broken femurs, broken arms, broken elbows, and so forth. In 2004, Jonathan suffered a horrendous femur break and had a rod put in. He limps quite a bit and on some days walking is very painful from the screws in his knees that cause his leg to ache. Because I live in chronic pain from a particular syndrome, I know how tempting it is to wallow in it or give in to a despair at times.

A few years back, I took Jonathan to a convention for those who have OI like he does. Jon has Type I. There are several other types that are even more serious. At the convention he saw grown men who were three and a half feet long, lying down in wheelchairs with oxygen tubes up their noses. They could hardly breathe because their bodies had not grown properly, and their lungs did not even have the space to expand. He saw so many people who were seriously disabled and had terribly deformed bodies from this genetic condition. Suddenly, because he can walk and function as these people can’t, he said it changed his whole view of his life. Rather than see what he could not do, he realize how much he could do. It was an eye-opening experience.

In our weakness, God draws us closer to himself. Self-reliance and perfect health can sometimes mean we don’t see our need for God as we should. That is the spiritual benefit to suffering. Out of weakness, when we are believers, we can be strong, and more than conquerers through Him who loved us.