That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; – Philippians 3:10-14, King James Version (KJV)

As you live this life, you will be faced with three basic circumstances:

1. Life is good

2. Life isn’t good

3. Death

All of life’s computations and permutations fall into one of these three categories, and how you face each category will determine how each category shapes your character.

Do bad times make you fretful or grateful? Do they make you bitter or sweet? We can exhibit either positive or negative attitudes in response to bad times, but there is only one factor that determines whether we will exhibit the negative attitudes or the positive ones at each difficult juncture we face: our relationship with Christ.

God (through Paul) taught us in His writings that to suffer is Christ. In Romans 5:3-5 (AMP) we learn that:

3 Moreover [let us also be full of joy now!] let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance.

4 And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation.

5 Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.

In short, suffering has the effect of making us more Christ-like in character, thus making us love Him more as we understand Him more. However, suffering has this effect only if we are buried in regular study of His Word and in regular prayer before His throne. If we are walking with God, we can rest on the promises of God while enduring trials, and we can see the purpose behind the suffering. If we only view God as fire insurance from Hell, then we won’t have a significant relationship with Him. When trials come, we won’t see the purpose behind the suffering; we’ll see only our own bitterness and anger in response to the unfairness of it all. We’ll lash out at God for not keeping us from evil instead of running to Him as our shelter from the evil that is upon us.

Want to know how strong your relationship is with Christ? Then ask yourself these questions. How do you react to tough times? Are you quick to get mad? Or, do you respond with patience and endurance by diving into prayer and into God’s promises? Your answers to these questions are a mirror into your character, and they will show you how you are facing the bad times in your life – with or without God.