Pain – the gift nobody wants

“Ouch!” Flinch. Pull back your hand. Duck.

These are all natural reactions to the threat of pain.

No one wants to be hurt.
So we avoid pain.. We deflect it. We ignore it. We mask it.

Pain is nothing new – it got its start in the Garden of Eden.

The serpent was cursed to crawl along ground, dragging its belly on the shards of stone.

The woman was cursed, “multiplying your pain in childbearing.”

And the man had to till a cursed ground, “in pain you shall eat of it all your days.” Creation was cursed with thorns and thistles.

According to Paul, “Affliction is our destiny” because we have chosen to stand apart – to be separated from the world. “Indeed,” he says “All who desire to live a godly life will be persecuted.”

Pain is just part of the deal.

But we mask pain with drugs – a $100 billion a year industry.
We run from confrontation.
We hide from difficult conversations.
We refuse to deal with difficult subjects.

But isn’t there something we can learn in the pain? The Red Letter Believer seeks to live out their faith in their workplace, their home and their community — and that includes the painful times.

What lessons have you discovered – through the pain? Won’t you leave your comment here?

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