Who's your favourite teacher? What was it about him or her that you liked most?
There can be different bases for what makes a good teacher: how fun, likeable or able to connect he or she can be. But at the end of the day, the best basis for a good teacher is his or her ability to make things stick.
To teach goes beyond just sharing information. Teaching is carried out until the information gets tacked on and can be applied.
With this criteria in mind, I don't think there will ever be a teacher as great as suffering. We've all heard the saying "experience is the best teacher."
But among all our experiences we have to admit that the bad ones are those that we really think of the most.
That's likely why Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:3, "Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus." It's also why James says in James 1:2, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds."
Suffering is not necessarily something that we would all get excited about. But the Bible teaches us over and over again that it is.
It's because we learn best when we suffer. And in learning we are made to fast track our growth.
Suffering may not always be fun and enjoyable, but it's necessary to growing in our faith and in our character. James 1:3-4 tells us, "For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
Suffering brings about the perfection of our faith. Do you want to be an all-around complete Christian lacking nothing? Then testing and trial is what you need most.
Christians are often quick to run after God's blessings and prosperity. But they hold back when it comes to His pruning and discipline.
Discipline is nonetheless something we all need and something we will benefit from if we allow it to run its full course. We need both good times and bad times to get through life.
If all we experience is comfort and blessing, it can often lead us down a path of complacency and immobility.
Suffering's effectivity in teaching us lies behind it's ability to get us on our feet and working. That's the beauty of the wisdom of God in that He allows even seemingly bad things to work for our benefit.
What kind of suffering are you experiencing today? Instead of seeing it as a stumbling block that keeps your from God's will and purpose, look at it today as a means to grow and learn so that you can become more effective at doing what God has called you to do.
