How do trials make us more like Christ?
God uses trials not to break us but to shape us: testing produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. Through suffering we are conformed into the image of Christ, depend on His grace, and grow in the holiness that belongs to Him. No trial feels good in the moment, but God works through it for our good and His glory.
This question arose from studying What is the difference between testing and temptation? and How do I fight sin in my life?.
Begin by reading
Go into the Word
Not a summary of these passages: the passages themselves. Read them, then come back to the study below.
The study
What the Scripture says
Trials work endurance, and endurance works character
James says, 'Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance,' and he adds, 'Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.' Paul traces the same chain: 'suffering works perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope.' The trial itself is not the goal; what it grows in us is.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering works perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope:
Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him.
They test and prove our faith like gold
Peter writes of believers put 'to grief in various trials' so that 'the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.' The fire does not create the faith; it reveals and refines it, burning away the dross and showing what is real. Genuine faith, under pressure, is shown to be genuine.
Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been put to grief in various trials, that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ—
knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ—
God uses them to conform us to Christ
Paul's great promise is that 'all things work together for good for those who love God,' and the good is defined: 'he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.' Hebrews adds that the Lord's chastening is 'for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness,' yielding 'the peaceful fruit of righteousness' to those trained by it. Suffering is not random; it is the Father's means of making us like His Son.
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.
All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised thereby.
For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory;
They teach us to depend on His grace
In the hard places we learn what Paul learned: 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness,' so that he glories in his weaknesses because when he is weak, then he is strong. Paul even traces the purpose of a crushing trial: 'that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.' Trials strip away self-reliance and teach us to lean on the God whose strength is made perfect in our need.
He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me. Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong.
For we don’t desire to have you uninformed, brothers, concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia, that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, so much that we despaired even of life. Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,
He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.
So we can even rejoice in them
This is why Scripture repeatedly connects suffering and joy: James says to count it all joy, Paul says we 'rejoice in our sufferings,' and Peter says believers 'greatly rejoice' even while grieved by trials, because the outcome is certain. We rejoice not in the pain itself but in what God is doing through it. Christ Himself 'learned obedience by the things which he suffered,' and we are being conformed to Him, one tested step at a time.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations,
Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering works perseverance;
Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been put to grief in various trials,
though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered.
As you read, you may wonder…
Scripture raises the next question
Studying the Word naturally opens more of it. Follow what you just read: it leads somewhere.
We haven't written this one yet. Take it to your church or small group: the Word answers it wherever it is asked. If we study it here later, all the better.
Hold onto these
Verses to meditate on
Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering works perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope: and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been put to grief in various trials, that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ—
All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised thereby.
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Worth visiting