*** This is a paper presented at the 2010 Southeast Regional meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society held at North Greenville University.
Our battle from and against suffering and sin is first and foremost a battle towards and for God. This is what it means to be created to know and enjoy a redemptive God-that all of our actions, emotions, struggles, and failures should deepen our understanding of, trust in, reliance upon, and imitation of God’s character. This study is designed to assist you in identifying the connections between your current life struggles and sins and the attributes of God you need to learn, clarify, trust, enjoy, or emulate more.
The premise of the exercise is: if in our struggle to conquer sin and alleviate suffering we fail to learn and treasure God more, we have missed the most important thing God is doing in the midst of these experiences. We would be more rule-following, comfort-seeking Pharisees than heart-focused, God-treasuring disciples of Christ.