Semi-provocative Thoughts For the Evening
This is probably one of the more important things I am going to write for some time.
Pain…
Plenty has been written about it.
But I am not sure a lot of people grasp the L-rd’s use of it in the His processes of shaping and molding us.
So, with that in mind, I would like to throw out the following for your consideration, follower of Jesus.
G-d provides us with a package of things that are incessantly good, gifts that are comprehensively good. The seasons that we go through which are painful are also seasons that are used by G-d; he wastes nothing. Pain, regardless of what you believe about its origins, is often used by G-d in the shaping process.
He causes all things to work for good to his kids.
And if we will work with his processes, then something useful and productive can result.
But many times, we want to escape the pain, not realizing that there may be a purpose, not necessarily FOR the pain, but a purpose IN the pain.
G-d will use painful times to work some depth and dimension in us.
It is not just about thinking we are exempt from pain, and putting up with the pain, or waiting out the pain, or even escaping the pain. Rather, it is a matter of asking G-d if there is anything he wants to accomplish through the pain, and then, as long as he wants to use the pain, to allow Him to do so.
Pain, as a critical part of the dynamic of sowing and reaping, and as a critical part of this thing we call reality, can cause a specific season in our lives to become fraught with poignant meaning. It can also be used to temper us, or to work self-control in us, or even perseverance.
We also grow through pain, and in mourning, and tears. In some way, we grow, even if that growth is in negative ways like growing bitter or offended.
So, rather than developing a potentially shallow response to pain, and so risking becoming shallow ourselves, perhaps it is in our best interest to embrace the necessary and productive pain, knowing that Christ also embraced that pain, and learning the lesson of perseverance, self-control, patience, et al., thus permitting the depth of those virtues to be worked out in us, so that they can be worked out through us in the lives of others.
Just some thoughts that are late-night, dense, and probably philosophical or theological.
He surely loves and blesses y’all.
So much so, that he lets nothing that comes our way go to waste.
Can you think of other ways he might use pain in our lives?