Thought for the Day

Is suffering redemptive? There is certainly no rule to say it is. If there were, it would only be a new law, a new way. We are not promised, however, a life free from suffering for the time being. Indeed, we are led to expect that anyone who sets out on a journey of faith in the gospel can expect to suffer. But as Luther always insisted, suffering may, indeed will, come, but is not to be sought. It is not a new way, a “negative theology of glory.” Not the law, but Christ, crucified and risen, is the redeemer, the one who takes our place and gives us his. — Gerhard O. Forde, “In Our Place”