There's More Purpose in Your Pain Than You Could Ever Imagine: Fix Your Focus Part 2
3. Purpose Gives You Confidence
Paul faced a lot of fires. He lived a life so full of pain and hardships that it would be hard for us to even fathom. But he came out on the other side of all those fires with a crazy confidence. In Philippians he wrote,
To live is Christ and to die is gain. — Philippians 1:21
Think about that statement for a second.
Paul was basically saying he's not afraid of anything: If they let me live, I'll just keep telling more and more people about Jesus — which is the purpose of my life. And if they kill me, it would be better for me anyway, because I get to go to Heaven.
Do you know how confident you have to be to write something like that?
What if you started seeing your fires as the things that give you confidence to face what's in front of you?
Think about how different you would feel if you realized your pain could help somebody else in theirs. You aren't facing this fire in front of you for just yourself; you are facing it for others.
Let that truth fill you with confidence today.
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I know this first reason to kiss the fire doesn't make the pain go away. The fire is still raging in front of you, and you're probably getting burned a bit. I get that. I'm not here to tell you there is a magic trick that makes all the pain go away; I'm here to tell you something much more important.
Your pain has a purpose.
And that purpose leads to joy, peace, and confidence.
If you had asked me that night in Seattle — when I wanted to take my life — if I was grateful for the pain, I probably would have punched you in the face.
But if you put me on a polygraph test today and asked if I would've escaped all that pain if given the chance, I'd tell you no. I wouldn't change my past.
Yes, Seattle and the time leading up to those seven weeks were some of the hardest seasons of my life.
Yes, it was incredibly painful for me and my family.
Yes, the fire we faced was incredibly hot.
But what I've realized is that the really tough times — and the fact that God got me through them — have given me opportunities to help more people. So no, I wouldn't change any of them.
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