This is a strange thing to be thinking about when it’s been such a week of celebrating God’s goodness (did you hear we got our visa!?!), but I’ve been thinking about pain today. One of the most alarming things about Jesus and his teaching is that He never guarantees that we won’t be hurt – rather the opposite.
There’s so much to say about that subject: how the defining characteristic of God’s love is that it chose his own pain over our separation and he calls us to live that way; how so much energy is spent avoiding pain – from karma (in the broad sense – there’s a pseudo-christian version too…) to health insurance to “if I just had more faith”, on and on; how nothing in God’s kingdom moves forward without pain; how all relationship has pain in it.
Here’s what I’ve come to:
- God’s goodness is bigger than whatever I’m afraid of (this sounds trite but it’s a huge issue)
- God is worth going through pain – both so that I am more intimate with him and just because he is who he is
- We can handle a lot more than we think we can. I don’t have all the empowerment now that I would have in the situations I imagine.
Just some thoughts.
Mark
