No Pain, No Gain... But What About Torture?

“Fellowship with Christ is so honorable that the sorest sorrow is a light price by which to procure it.” – C.H. Spurgeon

For the past three weeks, I have been going to physical therapy for a basketball-related injury. I hurt myself in early February when I tried to strip an opposing player of the ball and felt a searing pain in my right upper arm. I kept playing through the pain and discomfort but eventually saw my doctor who ordered an MRI to rule out a torn muscle. Thankfully, it was just a bad case of tendonitis and so, she prescribed some anti-inflammatories (which didn’t work) and PT, which hasn’t either… at least so far.

But I still go, twice a week, and do my exercises at home every day (when I remember). The PT sessions started out relatively easy but have gotten progressively more strenuous. Truth be told, I don’t enjoy them one bit, except for the electrical stimulation machine the therapist hooks me up to after a punishing 50-minute workout.

So, why do I keep going back and subjecting my 66-year-old body to such torture? Because I want to get better. As the old saying goes, “No pain, no gain!”

The same is true in the spiritual realm. It requires the daily discipline of prayer, Bible reading, and Christian fellowship – along with regular church attendance – to grow as a believer. If you want to become a mature Christian, there are no short cuts… just lots of hard work and self-sacrifice.

Here are some additional perspectives on the matter from Charles Spurgeon, the “Prince of Preachers”, followed by a couple of appropriate Bible passages.

“Nothing reflects so much honor on a workman as a protracted and severe trial of his work and his triumphant endurance of the ordeal without giving in or giving up… Let each man surrender his own longings to the glory of Jesus and declare: ‘If my lying in the dust would elevate my Lord by so much as an inch, let me still lie among the pots of earth. If to live on earth forever would make my Lord more glorious, it should be my heaven to be shut out of heaven.’"

“Then Jesus told His disciples, ‘If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.’” Matthew 16:24 (BSB)

“I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death…” Philippians 3:10 (BSB)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President