Podcast listener, John Anders writes and asks this,

Pastor John, I've had various physical injuries over the past several years that have drastically and positively impacted my life.

God has done much through my suffering and sorrows.

How can I most magnify the gospel through my everyday actions in the midst of a debilitating injury,

so that others see his glory and come to delight in Christ?

Well, the first thing I want to say is that in asking the question this way,

John has been his own answer.

How can I magnify the gospel through my everyday actions in the midst of suffering?

Whoa, I mean, he's already done it for me anyway. He's caused me to be thankful for God's grace in his life.

My sufferings have drastically and positively, that's an amazingly gracious word, impacted my life.

So what can I say to him when he has already been his own answer?

It seems to me like I'm anything I would say here would be building on a very good foundation.

So let me just draw attention to some biblical things that I'm sure John knows and may just be an encouragement to hear me say,

how can I magnify the gospel? How can I magnify Christ in suffering so that others see Christ's glory and delight in him?

He asks. There are two kinds of answer to that question.

One is how can John maintain his own faith and hope and joy in suffering?

Because without that, he would be of no use to others.

And the other way of answering the question is to think with him about the sorts of things he might do to help others enjoy what he's enjoying.

So how does he maintain his own faith and joy and then maintaining it?

What kinds of things might he do or say that would help others?

So here's my answer to the first half.

John, recall, this is how to maintain your faith.

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