[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Fno-pain-no-grain":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Fno-pain-no-grain-surround":67},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":12,"columnName":50,"date":51,"description":18,"extension":52,"image":53,"meta":54,"minRead":55,"navigation":56,"path":57,"postType":58,"publication":59,"publicationUrl":53,"seo":60,"stem":61,"topics":62,"__hash__":66},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Fno-pain-no-grain.md","No Pain, No Grain",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9,10,11],"2 Peter","Luke","Psalms",{"type":13,"value":14,"toc":46},"minimark",[15,19,22,25,28,31,34,37,40,43],[16,17,18],"p",{},"While driving through a small town the other day, I stopped at a traffic light at the town's main intersection. A building on the corner caught my eye. It was an old, classic-looking structure, with decorative carvings etched into its walls. Graceful woodwork surrounded its front door, covered by many layers of paint.",[16,20,21],{},"Years ago, I suppose, that old building was home to a bank or a fine clothing store. But today? It houses a video store, with movie posters plastered against windows surrounded by flashing neon lights. It was a strange combination: old-fashioned classic architecture housing contemporary video entertainment. And yet, in a sense, it's a parable for our time.",[16,23,24],{},"I wondered. Did the building's former tenant move to a new facility outside of town? Did the old business fail because it didn't meet the needs of today's customers? Do longtime residents sadly shake their heads as they drive through this intersection and miss the way things used to be?",[16,26,27],{},"I thought about churches where people are struggling to deal with the uncomfortable changes growth can bring—where new faces have replaced familiar ones, and drum sets sit where pipe organs used to be.",[16,29,30],{},"Quickly the traffic light turned green, and in a few minutes I was outside of town, driving past fresh-plowed farmland. Now my thoughts turned toward the many hardworking farmers I know. Even though oxen long ago gave way to tractors and combines, and today's farmer is as likely to use a computer as a pitchfork, the basic functions of farming remain the same: plan the work, till the ground, plant the seed, harvest the crop. A successful harvest still requires long days in the field and a lot of trust in God. It doesn't come easily.",[16,32,33],{},"Maybe that's why, in Jesus' parables, he didn't make the kingdom sound safe, comfortable, and painless. On the contrary, many of Jesus' kingdom illustrations imply great risk—a merchant who sells everything he owns to buy a single pearl, a father whose son leaves home with a big chunk of the family inheritance, servants who put their talents to work and double their investment, farmers who keep sowing seed even though some of it will be lost to birds, thorns, and stony soil.",[16,35,36],{},"God's people? We're like a flock of sheep, with some lambs that tend to stray. We're hardworking branches that sometimes need pruning. We're a body with parts that malfunction and sometimes get hurt. We're a household filled with brothers and sisters who love each other but struggle with sibling rivalry.",[16,38,39],{},"We need to \"grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ\" (2 Peter 3:18). But growth doesn't happen without discomfort, any more than a child can grow from infancy to adulthood without experiencing some skinned knees and hurt feelings. \"We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God\" (Acts 14:22).",[16,41,42],{},"It's a basic law of life. No risk, no reward. No faith, no fruit. No \"sowing in tears,\" no harvest reaped with joy (Psalm 126:5, 6). No pain, no grain.",[16,44,45],{},"Farmers understand. That's why they still head to their fields day after day, working hard and trusting God for the increase. And once in awhile, just for fun, some of them drive into town and rent a video.",{"title":47,"searchDepth":48,"depth":48,"links":49},"",2,[],"From the Editor's Desk","1998-07-12","md",null,{},3,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Fno-pain-no-grain","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":18},"articles\u002Fno-pain-no-grain",[63,64,65],"Biblical Theology","Spiritual Formation","Discipleship","y8FPTi3YWDXbtUqwRkmuatqJDpLtMMEeNnf_6mUUFq8",[68,73],{"title":69,"path":70,"stem":71,"description":72,"children":-1},"No Ouchless Answer","\u002Farticles\u002Fno-ouchless-answer","articles\u002Fno-ouchless-answer","A couple of evenings ago, I accidentally touched the wrong key on my computer keyboard and lost some writing projects I've been working on for months. My quick, thoughtless flick of the Delete key was followed by hours of frustration and regret. \"How could I be so careless? Why did this happen? How can I recover what I lost?\" Thankfully, it wasn't a total loss. My friend Bob the computer genius came to the rescue and retrieved many of my files. But for a while, I identified with the witty person who remarked, \"Now I know why they call that computer program 'Windows.' You get so frustrated, you want to throw your computer out one!\"",{"title":74,"path":75,"stem":76,"description":77,"children":-1},"No Thank You","\u002Farticles\u002Fno-thank-you","articles\u002Fno-thank-you","A little thing can make a big difference—even something as small as a comma."]