Reevaluate

I've been reading a book entitled The Christian Mind by Harry Balmires. Given me more thoughts on the Christian view of suffering and pain.

But, in a sense, death is relevant to every human issue, every earthly activity, since it raises the question of the significance and status of all that transpire terrestrially. And if death is universally relevant, then it follows that the Christian’s eternal perspective is universally relevant too.
Disease and suffering, in so far as they reduce man’s total experience existence here to something not worth having in itself, cannot be reconciled with the demand of the human mind for justice and meaning in things, unless there is that beyond this life and outside this world which both compensates for suffering and transforms its total significance.
Eternal well-being is the final aim and end of things here - for Christians anyway.

I've been really challenged by his writing to think Christianly about issues and to be aware of how subtly I have been won over by secular thinking in considering daily issues of life. A lot of my wondering about death and suffering must be reviewed in light of eternity. No, that will not not change anything as in there will still be injustice and tremendous suffering that cannot be explained. It is simply to put things in perspective. Thus my focus is not to discover the reason for every painful experience because its significance is not in the experience itself. I realise that I have been trying to find the meaning of life by observing life itself, which is a secular way of thinking, allowing the material and physical world to define my existence. The truth is Life, my life, can only derive meaning, value and significance from the One who is beyond this life and outside this world.

The above realisation alone has made my recent efforts to work through some of these issues as seen in the many blog entries on this depressing topic of suffering and pain, totally worth it!