Strange
Strange place this is.
I mean, all the pain we go through when we go through a medical procedure. I have been through many in the past year and I am fine not to go through one in the next few years. But really. What is this all about?
This was actually a question I had a while back, and then I realized something. Yesterday, when I was purchasing a drink and a snack for the afternoon, so I can keep my sugars regulated (I love Diabetes don't you?), I was asked a question at the check out. Yeah, it was one of those "money for the cause" bits, but the "cause" was for research on treating Juvenile Diabetes. I know that it can't help me any more, but for those who are in this world or those who will be in this world I can help them out with a bit of pocket change.
This got me to thinking about a few things regarding pain. I then read on a friend's facebook site that he is leaving an area that has been his home for many years and is moving to a new country for work. I know many of the feelings he is going through, but there are many feelings I cannot know, as he has known and seen more in that place than I ever did. Leaving is painful. Medical procedures are painful. My wife has shown me twice that child birth is painful. I've been around enough to know that death is painful, for both the one who is dieing and the ones that are watching and being left behind. We come into the world through pain and leave it in pain. OK... well most of us. Still, pain provides us with some of our strongest memories.
Perhaps some of the most important sign posts in our life are about a pain. Change is painful.
Knowing God is painful.
There are many that know God and experience pain because of it. Some are killed, others hurt in ways that the most grotesque film cannot replicate. There are a few that are "Safe" for their knowledge of God and stay in a very quiet, closed bubble, where there is little pain from knowing God.
Stepping out of the bubble of this set is hard and painful. Learning to get quiet enough to hear the voice of God is painful for most. Doing what God asks is painful for many.
Why do we do it?
Perhaps it is knowing what Christ has done for us. The pain that was endured though the betrayal. The pain that was endured through scourging. The pain that was endured through the trial. The pain that was endured through the denial. The pain that was endured through the thorns. The pain that was endured through walking through the streets with a heavy mass of wood with wounds that had barely had time to begin to heal all over his body. The pain of having to watch another lift and carry it for him. The pain of getting nails pounded through his flesh as he was posted onto the wood. Then having nothing more than those nails holding him on , the pain of having that wood lifted and dropped into place to then hang from the nails and nothing more. The pain of trying to breath in that state. The pain of dieing and taking on the sin of the world (that which was and was yet to come).
Is it because of his pain that we do what we do?
Partially.
Because it does not stop there. He rose from the grave. He gave hope, peace and a freedom that no one can take away. A family that spans the globe. Where we must be adopted into rather than born into. And we are the ones who make the choice to join in that family.
It was out of Love for all humans that Christ did what he did.
It is in this Love that we are asked to do what we do.
It is out of this Love that we do what we do.
I mean, all the pain we go through when we go through a medical procedure. I have been through many in the past year and I am fine not to go through one in the next few years. But really. What is this all about?
This was actually a question I had a while back, and then I realized something. Yesterday, when I was purchasing a drink and a snack for the afternoon, so I can keep my sugars regulated (I love Diabetes don't you?), I was asked a question at the check out. Yeah, it was one of those "money for the cause" bits, but the "cause" was for research on treating Juvenile Diabetes. I know that it can't help me any more, but for those who are in this world or those who will be in this world I can help them out with a bit of pocket change.
This got me to thinking about a few things regarding pain. I then read on a friend's facebook site that he is leaving an area that has been his home for many years and is moving to a new country for work. I know many of the feelings he is going through, but there are many feelings I cannot know, as he has known and seen more in that place than I ever did. Leaving is painful. Medical procedures are painful. My wife has shown me twice that child birth is painful. I've been around enough to know that death is painful, for both the one who is dieing and the ones that are watching and being left behind. We come into the world through pain and leave it in pain. OK... well most of us. Still, pain provides us with some of our strongest memories.
Perhaps some of the most important sign posts in our life are about a pain. Change is painful.
Knowing God is painful.
There are many that know God and experience pain because of it. Some are killed, others hurt in ways that the most grotesque film cannot replicate. There are a few that are "Safe" for their knowledge of God and stay in a very quiet, closed bubble, where there is little pain from knowing God.
Stepping out of the bubble of this set is hard and painful. Learning to get quiet enough to hear the voice of God is painful for most. Doing what God asks is painful for many.
Why do we do it?
Perhaps it is knowing what Christ has done for us. The pain that was endured though the betrayal. The pain that was endured through scourging. The pain that was endured through the trial. The pain that was endured through the denial. The pain that was endured through the thorns. The pain that was endured through walking through the streets with a heavy mass of wood with wounds that had barely had time to begin to heal all over his body. The pain of having to watch another lift and carry it for him. The pain of getting nails pounded through his flesh as he was posted onto the wood. Then having nothing more than those nails holding him on , the pain of having that wood lifted and dropped into place to then hang from the nails and nothing more. The pain of trying to breath in that state. The pain of dieing and taking on the sin of the world (that which was and was yet to come).
Is it because of his pain that we do what we do?
Partially.
Because it does not stop there. He rose from the grave. He gave hope, peace and a freedom that no one can take away. A family that spans the globe. Where we must be adopted into rather than born into. And we are the ones who make the choice to join in that family.
It was out of Love for all humans that Christ did what he did.
It is in this Love that we are asked to do what we do.
It is out of this Love that we do what we do.
Labels: christianity, pain
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