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I ’ve always loved reading Christian biographies. The life stories of people who courageously lived for Christ, overcame formidable obstacles, and bore much fruit for the kingdom of God are inspiring. Some of us have dreamed of following in the footsteps of people like these, whether by becoming a missionary in a foreign land, starting a ministry to help a specific group of people, opening our homes to orphans and others in need, or any number of other ways that we might serve the church and the world.
But what happens when chronic suffering prevents us from fulfilling dreams like these? What happens when we desire to have a home open to others for hospitality, but we’re living in someone else’s house with no freedom to invite others over? What happens if our circumstances prevent us from leaving our current location and serving the Lord in another city, state, or country? What happens when the family we hoped to grow never materializes because we never got married, or because we live with chronic illness that doesn’t allow us to have children? What happens when we long to minister to others but are rarely even able to make it to church?
It’s easy to become disoriented in these circumstances. After all, the things that we desire are good things that would be honoring to God. Why, then, would He prevent us from doing the very things that His Word says are good or from fulfilling our desires to serve Him with our lives? If we can’t experience human flourishing in these ways, what motivation do we have to go on living when life just feels like a living death? And what’s the point of enduring a greater degree of suffering in this life if everyone’s slate just gets wiped clean in heaven and we all have the exact same experience in glory?
Chronic suffering forces us to reckon with the reality of unfulfilled expectations, goals, and dreams. Let’s look at a few questions that chronic sufferers may ask, as well as highlight why our seemingly small and pointless lives now matter so much for eternity, giving us a reason to endure each difficult day though so many of the best things in life are inaccessible to us.
is god wasting my life?
A certain question inevitably crosses the mind of those living with chronic suffering. We’re told that we should make the most of our lives and do all for the glory of God (see 1 Cor. 10:31). When faced with chronic suffering, we may be tempted to ask: “Is God wasting my life?”
In the Western world, we particularly esteem the value of production. What can we make? What can we do? What can we accomplish? This is all understandable, since part of being God’s image bearers means that we desire to do valuable work, to subdue the earth, to make contributions, and to have our lives count for something beyond ourselves. But what has happened in our “hustle” culture, even in the church, is that we can begin to overestimate the value of production and underestimate the value of enduring in faith amid suffering.
is it ok if i just want to go home?
Given the fact that chronic suffering means we may not ever see our circumstances improved or restored this side of heaven, it’s easy to see why it would be difficult for some of us to desire to remain on earth. Those of us facing chronic suffering typically have a greater longing to depart and be with the Lord, because the normal ties that bind people to earth may be absent from our lives or so painful to us that we see no reason to desire a long earthly life. Questions like these arise in our minds: Is it OK to just want to go and be with God instead? How do I view my life on earth? How can I endure when the suffering has impacted so many parts of what makes life really feel like life and my circumstances are unlikely to change?
For those whose understandable desire to depart and be with the Lord (see Phil. 1:23) has morphed into contemplation of suicide, please do not wrestle alone with those thoughts. Reach out to trustworthy helpers—such as counselors, church leaders, family, and friends—who can navigate these deep waters with you.
what’s the point?
It’s also natural to ask, “What’s the point of my suffering?” After all, we can endure difficult things much better if we understand the purpose of the suffering and the beneficial outcome. A woman in labor may experience great pain during her delivery, but she endures because she knows the purpose of the pain: It will result in the blessing of a child. But compare the pain of a woman in labor to that of someone who lives with chronic pain, and the storyline is much different. The pregnant woman’s pain is temporary and will culminate in the immediate blessing for which she longs (the exception being women who birth stillborn babies, or babies with severe medical complications, or babies who die in infancy—this is its own form of suffering). But people with chronic pain face ongoing physical affliction every day with no end in sight, and there’s no certain earthly blessing born from it.
All those who endure some form of chronic suffering must rely on a hope of blessing and a hope of relief that is longer-range than immediate temporal joys. But do the pain, suffering, and loss make a difference at the end of the day? If all believers are going to end up in glory in the new heavens and new earth, is there any value or purpose in the greater degree of suffering that some experience? According to Scripture, the answer is yes. It really does matter. Let’s see how the Bible speaks to our questions as we wonder whether God is wasting our lives, as we desire to go and be with Him, and as we ask if there’s any point to our chronic suffering.
temporal affliction prepares future glory
Hope can hurt, and so we can be tempted to kill it. When we try to keep going amid chronic suffering, praying and hoping that God will bring temporal relief and restoration, we can become disillusioned, discouraged, depressed, or despairing when nothing changes. And the truth is, our hopes for earthly improvements aren’t promised and may never materialize. If that’s the case, how can we endure our earthly lives when relief and restoration are guaranteed only at our death? If this world is just treading water until we go to be with the Lord, and if this world really doesn’t matter for the next world, then what would motivate us to keep going with any sense of purpose or hope?
In doctrinally sound churches, we typically receive solid biblical teaching on the connection between this world and the next when it comes to sin and judgment. Those who do not trust in Christ will be judged for their sins and condemned to hell. Those who do trust in Christ will enter the glories of heaven through His merits, as well as receive gracious rewards for their acts of love toward God and others on this earth. Yet when it comes to suffering, we sometimes separate this world and the next. Or, if we do acknowledge a connection between the two, it’s in a more general sense that lumps all believers together. That is, we tend to think that since we all suffer on some level, we’ll all attain the same weight of glory.
But this isn’t the case. Scripture connects suffering in this world to our experience of the next world. It connects our present life with our future life. Why? Because the bad now will actually make the good better. To say it another way, this world and the next are not hermetically sealed off from each other. What happens now has implications for what will be then. That’s why we can endure this life: Because it’s preparing future glory.
In other words, heaven isn’t a cosmic do-over that wipes everyone’s earthly slate clean and gives us all the exact same experiences, rewards, opportunities, and responsibilities in the new heavens and new earth. If that were the case, it would be very hard to be motivated to persevere in a life filled with chronic suffering. But, as theologian R.C. Sproul understood, “right now counts forever.” Everything that happens today has eternal significance. Let’s see how Scripture testifies that our temporal affliction now is preparing us for future glory then.
Second Corinthians 4:16–17 says,
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.
Note the wording here. Paul is not simply saying that this light momentary affliction will eventually turn into glory. Glory doesn’t come after affliction in the way that there might be a happy ending to a hard story. The truth is much grander: The affliction we experience now in this life actually produces the particular weight of glory that we will receive in the new heavens and new earth.
The Greek word translated into English as “preparing” in 2 Corinthians 4:17, sometimes translated as “producing,” means “to cause a state or condition” or to “bring about.” In other words, there is an indelible link between suffering now and glory then. This world will influence that world. The temporal will echo into and shape the eternal. This means that every second of our suffering matters. Every tear shed, every groan uttered, every act of worship rendered, every grief endured, is preparing future glory for us, as well as preparing us for that future glory. This is good news for weary sufferers who wonder why endurance is worth it.
Excerpt adapted from Limping Heavenward: Living by Faith in Comprehensive and Chronic Suffering by Karrie Hahn, © 2025.