The Suffering Was Successful

It’s Friday afternoon.

But not just any Friday.

Good Friday carries a tension to it—a paradox that doesn’t quite make sense at first glance. A day marked by suffering, loss, and what appeared to be defeat… yet remembered as a day of victory.

“Because He was God, He could go down into the depths of death and come up again, bringing the whole world with Him. That is why the day of the execution is the day of the victory. ” — C.S. Lewis

That idea runs completely counter to how most of us live.

We spend our lives trying to avoid discomfort, pressure, and pain. We interpret hard seasons as setbacks, as signs we’re off track, as something to escape from as quickly as possible.

But Good Friday tells a different story.

It reminds us that not all suffering is meaningless. Not all hardship is a detour. Some of it is actually the path.

“The goodness of Good Friday is not that the suffering was good, but that the suffering was successful.” — John Piper

That distinction matters.

Because if you’re honest, most of your growth hasn’t come from the easy seasons. It’s come from the moments that stretched you, exposed you, and forced you to become someone different.

The challenge is that when you’re in those moments, it doesn’t feel like progress. It feels like pressure. It feels like uncertainty. It feels like you’re losing something.

And sometimes… you are.

But not all loss is bad. Some loss is necessary.

Sometimes you’re losing comfort so you can gain clarity.

Sometimes you’re losing control so you can build trust.

Sometimes you’re losing who you were so you can step into who you’re meant to become.

That’s the tension of Good Friday.

It looks like the end.

But it’s actually the turning point.

So as you head into the weekend, don’t just rush past that—use it.

If you want to win the weekend:

• Reset — do something that restores you physically and mentally, not just distracts you.
• Reconnect — be fully present with the people that matter. No phone, no half-attention.
• Realign — take a little time to reflect on the week and set intention for the next one.

Most people use the weekend to escape.

But you can use it to build.

Because the goal isn’t to survive your weeks.

It’s to build a life you don’t need to recover from.

And sometimes, the very thing that feels like a setback…is actually the moment everything starts to change.

Inspire & Impact,

Josh