Victory through the pain, not around it.
I was talking with someone who believed they should never have to live in or with pain, which they had for years. Oh, how I wished that were true! Then they asked me, “Why did God cause evil and pain in the world?”
“God didn’t cause evil and pain.”
“What do you mean, God didn’t? If God created everything, then He created evil because I’m experiencing the pain of it right now!”
“I understand,” I replied. “But God didn’t create evil, Adam and Eve brought it into the human experience. They would have never experienced death and all its painful causes, if only they had chosen to live God’s way. Once they chose to live their own way, however, they chose to pass this pain and death onto us.”
Shaking their head, this person said, “That seems so unfair that what someone else did so long ago is still affecting me today.”
“True, it is unfair, really unfair. The reality we live in, however, is that we must live with other people’s choices regardless of whether we believe it’s fair or not. Yet, there is another reality…Jesus. He came to show God’s tremendous love for us, a love that gives us the ability to live both with and/or through that pain, even if caused by other’s or by our choices.”
All the while a friend of mine, who lives in constant pain, was listening. He was able to back up this truth with firsthand experience. Oh, what a sweet Jesus story that was!
Don’t believe the lies that if you experience pain that you somehow deserve it or that you’ll live pain free by living a godly lifestyle. Nope, we all face pain. And it’s our choice as to how we’ll handle it, not whether it comes or not.
Jesus lived victoriously with and through pain caused by others, including ours! Let Jesus help you make good choices despite the pain – physical or otherwise. And when He does, you will be ready for His return.