Are you prepared for the inevitable suffering of life?
Not to be a downer, but you have to admit — Western culture’s general obsession with “life, liberty, and happiness” (God bless America) doesn’t exactly set you up well to deal with the ups and downs that life will 100% throw your way. Or if you’re the one person in the world who has a perfect life, it’s not going to help you support all the people around you dealing with disappointment and suffering.
But the story we inherit through the Bible, the reflection of reality we’re given, and the mindset that flows out of that, is perfectly nuanced to provide the hope you need in Christ, and the resilience to endure suffering. Reality is the surest cure — including the reality of the love of God.
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. — Ephesians 3:14–19