Lesson 7: Purpose of suffering – God manifested in us
2 Corinthians 4:11-18 (ESV)
11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.
13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak,
14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.
15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Another purpose for suffering is given to us in the above verses. God says He displays Himself to others through us when we suffer – if we allow Him to do His work through us in that suffering. How does He do this in our life?


Look again at verse 16: If we continue to trust Jesus in our suffering, and do not lose heart, He can show His power to others around us who are suffering also. Before you were a Christian and you would suffer, did you ever see someone also suffering as you were doing, and yet that person always had a smile? You could not imagine how someone could be happy in these circumstances. Did you want whatever they had that was making them smile? You would be unusual if you didn’t. Think about the witness you are for Jesus if, in the middle of your suffering, you can sing a song of praise. That is God being manifested in your life in the middle of suffering.

If you were a painter, an artist, and you wanted to paint a picture of a bright sun – would you choose a white canvas on which to paint the sun? Of course not, because a white hot sun could not be seen on a white canvas. You would choose either a dark canvas or paint a dark background on which to paint your white-hot sun, for then it could be displayed in all its brilliance. That is how God paints Himself as light in your life as well. When your life is dark with pain and suffering and you allow Him to be seen through you by your trust and faith in Him, you are the background for His brilliance.

*Can you think of someone who has inspired you by how they chose to handle their suffering?
*Has anyone ever said you are an inspiration to them because of how you react to the suffering God has allowed in your life?