It Could Be Worse

If you have ever spent any time around a baby you have probably noticed that most of them cry about everything. At the least little discomfort they cry and scream. As they get older they get a little better however if a baby who just started crawling slips and their face hits the floor they will start screaming but give them a few weeks and a few more slips and they just get right up and keep going. Same happens when a toddler falls for the first time, or a young kid takes their first fall off their bike. But with time the response to each type of incident lessens.

It is an unfortunate reality that we live in a world that in many ways brings pain into our lives. However as we mature we become more capable of dealing with the pain. Each experience increases our ability to handle pain. Until the point that we can handle extreme pains often without responding with screams or tears. Though at times even adults need to express their pain in these ways.

Growth as a follower of Christ can be quite the same. As we go through the trials of deciding to follow Christ we become better equipped to handle greater tests. Not so much that we become calloused to the pain but we become more confident that God will see us through. Immediately after pointing the reader to consider Christ and his trials Paul writes...

In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. Hebrews 12:4 ESV

Each trial we pass through strengthens us to be able to endure a greater trial ahead. In pointing out that we have not yet resisted sin to the point of blood shed Paul brings to light two things. First, that our situation could be much worse then it is. Second, that God has not allowed us to go through more then we can handle. As he is about to point out in the following verses, God is building us up not tearing us down. Although the trials we are facing maybe painful, as Christians we look for things to get worse, our trials now are building us up so that should the time come that like our Savior we are called to endure death, we will be able to stand.