Red Cross Motto

"The Greatest Tragedy is indifference"

Our Challenge

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? Mary Oliver

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Pain and the Real World

I just finished talking to a dear sweet friend who loves the Lord with all her heart. Her love for Jesus is something that is easy to see from afar or up close. I love her, and love being around her. She shared some stuff with me tonight about some pain in her life. She just left and as I am sitting here thinking about our conversation I realized something-her pain is like all of ours. It is living in this world, loving the Lord and not fitting into this system of things. We are only without pain when we are content with every circumstance right? Well, when we love Jesus so much and want to be with Him so much, and we HATE our sin nature so much how can we be without pain living in a sinful, fallen, world with a sin nature? I know I sound bleak..

Pain is a reality of life. C.S. Lewis links pain and pleasure as two sides of the same coin. Without pain can we really experience pleasure? If we wake up each day and do not experience pain in some form or another are we really being honest? Are we really living life with the full range of emotions that God has given us? Are we in denial? Even when watching the news we should experience pain through other people's suffering that we see everyday!- Unless we have grown cold, maybe uncaring. I ask myself, what is the right response to pain? Jesus definitely wasn't cold, he did not explain to everyone when Lazarus died, "okay people, why are you all being such babies? I am God, I can do anything, where is your faith? He didn't explain away their pain, or discount it, or give a sermon... No, he wept.

No comments: