Seeing the Big Picture
To appreciate the beauty in aging, we must shift our focus away from regret and sorrow. Instead, let’s take a step back and view the bigger picture of our lives. This can be challenging, especially when we are consumed by the negative events of our past. The idiom “can’t see the forest for the trees” perfectly describes this. However, as Christians, we have an advantage. When we view our lives through the lens of God’s word, we gain clarity and perspective on the purpose behind our experiences.
The furnace of affliction
A basic concept of Christianity is that God redeems us. The word “redeem” means “to buy out.” Jesus paid the price for our release from sin and its punishment—His death in exchange for our life. When God redeems us, He adopts us into His family. As new members of His family, we often have many rough edges that need reshaping. One way God shapes us throughout our lives is through affliction. God tells us in Isaiah 48:10b: “I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.” Affliction refers to anything that causes mental or physical pain, sickness, loss, calamity, or persecution.
Charles Spurgeon, a preacher in the mid-1800s, once said, “There is no place where we learn so much and have so much light cast upon Scripture as we do in the furnace.” The “furnace” is a metaphor for affliction, and just as metals are purified in fire, so are we purified through hardship. Think of a blacksmith crafting a horseshoe—the metal must be heated in the furnace and reshaped multiple times before it takes the desired form. Likewise, affliction prepares us for transformation.
Being Reshaped Through Suffering
When we understand that afflictions—whether they are emotional pain, sickness, or other hardships—are used by God to refine us, we gain a new perspective on why we endure troubling times. Pastor Voddie Baucham once remarked, “I’m not the man I want to be, but thank God I’m not the man I used to be.” Like us, he has experienced affliction, and like us, he didn’t always recognize affliction as God’s tool for growth. But upon reflection, he realized that even the most painful experiences were used by God to make him a better person.
We are not victims
Understanding that you were not merely a victim of unfortunate circumstances, but that your afflictions were part of God’s plan to shape you, reveals a hidden beauty in your struggles. Imagine the realization that the trials you once hated were actually tools used by God Almighty to mold you into the person He intended you to become! Perhaps those experiences can now be used to help someone else. And even if they can’t, you can still look at them as valuable lessons and wisdom gained along the journey.
Conclusion
In the end, aging allows us to see the bigger picture of how God has worked in our lives through every trial and hardship. It reminds us that our struggles were not wasted but were integral to the transformation He intended for us. By viewing aging through the lens of God’s purpose, we can find beauty not just in how far we’ve come, but in the wisdom we’ve gained.
Proverbs 3:13-18
Blessed is the one who finds wisdom,
and the one who gets understanding,
for the gain from her is better than gain from silver
and her profit better than gold.
She is more precious than jewels,
and nothing you desire can compare with her.
Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her;
those who hold her fast are called blessed.
Related content: The wonderful Jesus the Christ
AI did not write this article but assisted with proofreading.