Suffering For Righteousness' Sake

According to a Detroit News article, Kirk Gibson is a baseball player who knows how to live with pain. In 1980, he tore the cartilage in his wrist. Two years later, he had a sore left knee, a strained left calf muscle, and a severe left wrist sprain. In 1983, he was out for knee surgery, and in 1985 he required 17 stitches after getting hit in the mouth with a wild pitch. In addition, he bruised a hamstring muscle, injured his right heel, and suffered a sore left ankle. His worst injury involved severe ligament damage to his ankle in 1986, a year predicted to be his best. When asked about pain, Gibson was quoted as saying, "There are pluses and minuses in everything we do in life…But the pluses for my career, myself, and my family make it worth it. It's the path I chose."

The fact that there is no gain without pain is evident in other walks of life as well. But never is the potential payoff greater than when a person chooses to suffer with Christ in order to help others and to honor God.

-Sermons Illustrated November/December 1988