This Lingering Thing Called Pain
Nobody likes to experience pain. I still have to meet someone who gets excited about going to the dentist or the hospital. Ok, Gabrielle may have been an exception when she was a lot younger. But that’s because she got a lollipop whether she sat on the dental chair or not. Going back to my point, modern society as a whole has done a great deal to lessen pain and our experience of it. Nowadays, we have anesthesia, Tylenol and Advil. If the pain is not physical, some people get high while others get drunk. However, despite all these, pain and suffering is a reality that we cannot totally avoid even with our best efforts. Relationships sometimes don’t work, sickness and death strikes when you least expect, savings dwindle, and even the hardest working employees get laid-off. It is difficult to deal with pain because, often, it is more than physical. It’s not something that will go away because we took a pill. Pain and hurt is often deep and lingering.
Thankfully, pain and suffering is something that Jesus is also familiar with. Have you unfairly suffered the consequences of something you did not do? Painful, isn’t it? Yes, Jesus went through that. Have you been betrayed by someone close to you? Failed by the one you were depending on? Yes, He knew how it felt and He knows how you feel. Have you ever felt the emptiness of being separated from a loved one? Jesus went through that too.
And you know what is the most staggering thing about the pain, suffering and hurt that Jesus went through? He endured all of it….FOR YOU.
“He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.” (1 Peter 2:24 NLT)