No Pain, No Holy

In about 17 days, some friends of mine and I are going to do Warrior Dash. For the unaware, we're going to run about 3.5 miles, crawl through mud, over round hay bales, under barbed wire and jump fire. Then we get a cool hat:

So, I've been preparing. Sort of. Mostly on the strength training end of things, not so much on the running. Running simply isn't terribly enjoyable to me, and I don't get the immediate results I get from the strength training. Do a few hundred reps of pushups, curls, etc in 30-40 minutes and you see results right away. Run for 20 minutes and you get sweaty, and for me, painful knees. So, because it is not fun and because it hurts me, I don't run. I may regret this come April 16.

Discomfort- dare I say suffering- is a part of working out. The whole, "No Pain, No Gain," mantra is based on this idea. I enjoy the strength training, so the pain is able to be dealt with. Not so with the running, so it is deemed not worth it.

But, what of our pursuit of holiness? Are we willing to suffer to achieve it?

I've recently read a couple really, well, painful, passages about dealing with temptation. 1 Peter 5:8-10 says,

"Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast."

The idea of Satan looking for us is bad, but that he also wants to devour us? He will do this by tempting us, and we will be devoured by our own sins. Unless we resist. And Peter tells us right there that our resistance will bring suffering. It will hurt to tell our urges "NO!" It will be more attractive to give in to them than to hold out against them. I believe it is why we fall.

In the moment of temptation- be that for lust, or selfishness, or passing by a person who needs help, or whatever- we choose the path of least resistance. We think it would be better to ask forgiveness than to fight it off and do the right thing. We don't do the right thing because, in that moment, the right thing is the least attractive, most painful thing. To us, there is no way out.

1 Corinthians 10:13 says there is.

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. 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.

What we fail to realize is that the pain of doing the right thing will not kill us. Unless, of course, that right thing is to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of another or for God. God does not want us to fall to temptation because He wants what is best for us, so He makes a way out. But how does God- perfect, Holy, sinless God- know how to overcome?

Hebrews 2:17-18
For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Catch that: Jesus suffered when He was tempted. I have this tendency to think that it was easy for Jesus to say "NO!" when tempted. That He didn't have to muster any strength at all to deny that which was offered. But He did suffer when tempted. It had to be hard for Him to resist temptation, or He would never understand and relate to how we suffer. Jesus didn't just sacrifice Himself on the cross, He did it daily. I think of those times when sin is staring me down, temptation is rising. There is a sometimes physical pull, a dropping sensation in the stomach as my heart goes to war with my flesh. "Look at this," or "Go ahead, say that hurtful thing, " or "Just walk on by that guy, he doesn't matter." These thoughts, these urges, these temptations make me suffer. Giving into them makes me feel better. For a second. Then conviction. Knowing I selfishly chose the easy way out. Knowing Jesus had the same temptations, but chose to fight them down because He loves us makes Him so much more appealing.

So much more worth it.

If we want to be holy, if we want to be like Christ, we must be willing to suffer the pain of overcoming our desire to appease our flesh. We must be willing to suffer that knot in the stomach as we struggle over doing the right thing.

No pain, no holy.

That is what that big, fancy church word "sanctification" is all about. The process of being grown and pruned by the work of the Holy Spirit into a holy creation. It is letting the voice of the Spirit win out over the voice of the temptations.

It is about trusting in Christ- who suffered as we do- to win out in our hearts over lesser things.