Isn’t it interesting that everything truly alive benefits from stressors? For example, when a tree has its branches cut off—a process we call pruning—it springs back to life in a new way. I recently watched a documentary about a winemaker who explained that the secret to producing delicious grapes is to put the vines under stress. By giving them just enough water and sunshine, the grapes have to struggle, resulting in a richer, more flavorful fruit.

Consider another example of beneficial stress: recent studies show that older adults who regularly do Sudoku—a mentally challenging puzzle—maintain sharper minds compared to those who don’t. Mental stressors like these can help slow cognitive aging. Here’s another question to ponder: if a fire is burning in the wilderness, how does it eventually go out? Why doesn’t a massive forest fire consume everything? The answer: it runs out of obstacles to burn. Fires extinguish themselves once there’s nothing left to fuel them. 

The philosopher Marcus Aurelius once said, “The burning fire makes flames and brightness out of everything thrown into it.” If that’s true, how much more so for someone filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit? When you have God’s fire within you, the challenges you face can make you brighter, stronger, and better. In fact, if we reflect on church history, we might find that the church was often at its weakest when it was most comfortable, but at its strongest and most vibrant when it was under persecution—again showing the benefits of facing stressors.