What Doesn't Kill Me, (indeed) Makes Me Stronger

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a madman at his death--the way he finished the last nearly eleven years of his life; but he is attributed with the saying, "That which does not kill us, makes us stronger," and "What does not destroy me, makes me stronger," and variants.

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This man was an ardent enemy of Christianity and never saw the light of Christ, but I think he no doubt got a lot of philosophy right, including this one.

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And this quote is entirely biblical. We can find Bible verse upon Bible verse to support the fact that Nietzsche was actually propounding the Word of God even though he hated Christianity and the thought of God. (For a start see John 16:33; James 1:2-4; Galatians 6:9 and many others similar.)

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Whatever we endure with patiently in life comes around eventually in our favour. And this is where faith comes in. The faith of trust, hope, courage, boldness and confidence. Nietzsche therefore had faith and arguably a God-grounded faith though he never knew it. I'd call upon the Biblical Wisdom tradition to support this assertion.

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Faith that gets us through the toughest of times with a "What doesn't kill me makes me stronger" approach requires hope, a sense of love (at least self-love), courage and more.

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It's only when we look back though that we can see 'afterwards' how far we've come and how much we've endured. In fact, Hebrews 12 attributes the tough times in life as the Lord's loving discipline, and the key to our endurance as humbly accepting his love in growing us to maturity. Verse 11 says, "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."

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We must remain and abide in God no matter what--even when it makes no sense. What doesn't kill me, inevitably makes me stronger because God loves me so much he wants me to reach my potential.

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It seems heartbreakingly untenable though, to think of how tough some situations of loss and hardship can be--yet this truth still holds; it is not simply a cliche. We will survive and become stronger if we endure.

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Over to Rudyard Kipling for part of an old favourite, "If":

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If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

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http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_if.htm