In a perfect world there would be no pain, however we don’t live in a perfect world.
Here
are a few simple facts about pain. It is messy. It hurts. It is
unavoidable. We all struggle with it. Pain if monitored can be an
excellent motivator.
Regardless
of age, we all like to complain about aches and pains, usually
pertaining to our body. To name a few examples: pain in the back, pain
in the
neck, pain in the shoulder, pain in the ankle. Speaking of the latter,
who can forget about Curt Schilling and his epic bloody sock? It was
about ten years ago during a pivotal playoff game when the Boston Red
Sox hurler pitched the game on an ankle with
torn ligaments and won the game. His effort helped to propel the Red
Sox on to their first World Series Championship in eighty six years.
However
how noble it was for Shilling to push through his physical pain to win a
baseball game, mental and emotional pain can be far worse. In his
book,
The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis makes this profound statement. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain…
In
my own personal experience I have struggled with such pain in extreme
fashion. In one of the toughest moments of my life I had to choose
whether to
take someone, whom I loved more than myself, off of life support or
not. Talk about a world of emotional pain and unrest. Such is when you
must struggle with a broken heart, yet God can use it if you let Him.
Since pain can motivate or debilitate, what is the alternative to pain? The apostle Paul said,
our goal is to please him. As believers we should be
striving to do things that please God not pain Him. Sadly, we often
have our own agenda, something I know well since I am a chief
offender. But, I am trying to embrace
this thought: God is with me, not against me. I need to intentionally be a pleasure to God, not someone who causes him to turn away because it hurts too much to watch.
We can choose to push through the pain or to be overwhelmed by it.
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