Lie #3: You Have a Right To Be Free From Pain
Pain is bad, isn’t it? That’s certainly what our culture tells us. If something hurts you, then you must distance yourself from it. Medicate it. Perhaps divorce it. That’s the healthy response. Life shouldn’t be painful. If it hurts, then something must be wrong.
Perhaps this is the most damaging lie of all for those of us who follow Christ. For veiled beneath the words lurks this horrible falsehood: “Whatever brings me pain, whatever hurts me, cannot be from God.”
As a consequence of this belief, we find ourselves running from church to church, from job to job, from relationship to relationship, anytime any one of those things dares to hurt us or make our lives difficult or uncomfortable.
We run from pain because it hurts. It can damage and wound. The truth is, not all pain is from God. There are times when the right thing to do is to walk away and to separate yourself from the source of your injury. But where we go wrong is in thinking that God believes all pain is bad, or that every place or person He calls you to should never cause you to hurt.
Jesus Himself promised that suffering will follow those who follow Him. “I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world” (John 16:33). Although a lot of pain comes from the world, sometimes it comes—out of love—from the hand of God Himself. “Endure it as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there whom a father does not discipline?” (Heb. 12:7).
Our culture runs from suffering, discomfort, and anything else that doesn’t please us. But as followers of Christ, we live by a different standard of truth. We welcome pleasure when it comes, but also hold this reality in tension in our hearts—that God’s greatest gifts often come to us through difficulty and hardship.
So while we live in a culture that advocates an “all pleasure, no pain” approach to life, perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to reject the painful, tedious, and inconvenient things that come into our lives. For those may be the very tools God is using to set us free.
3 comments:
Most of you already know my testimony when it comes to school. My parents pulled me out of high school and home schooled me. I thought that it was the most painful experience. I was wrong, it happened to be the very best experience. Yes, I had rough times but seriously, who doesn't? Now about seven years later, I realize that it are experiences like that, that leave the biggest impact and I wouldn't change the results for anything!
Yeah, I agree with the article. Something is seriously wrong with a persons walk with Christ if they never experience any sort of persecution or pain. I believe God only gives us what we can handle so running from pain is running from situations God has purposely put in your life, knowing that you are capable of handling them.
So pain is good. Well it doesnt feel good, but it helps us through life trials. This is a very true statement. I have personally lived through a lot of things that have caused me pain in some way. For example, crashing cars, failing classes, the list continues. However, all these things in some way helped me better myself.
This is just one of those things that you have to deal with. Also, as Ashley said, "somthing is seriously wrong with a persons walk with christ if they never experience any sort of persecution or pain." Thats a very true comment. As a christian you should have received some sort of persectuion of some belife you have. The world does not believe what christans believe, and result we are sometimes made fun of, and even hurt in extreme cases.
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