“So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin.You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God” (1 Peter 4:1-2).
Pain is a gift. Have you ever thought of it that way? In some strange way when we suffer through pain we share in Christ’s sufferings. Yet we are a people who despise weakness. We run from it. We do not want to except that gift and many times will take any measure necessary to escape that four letter word–pain.
Pain is not fun to live with. I have been experiencing it daily for a long while now. It was not because of anything I have done, I was bitten by a tick. I was infected. The infection was not caught so now I deal daily with pain. Sometimes intense and sometimes dull but pain is pain. Living with something as a companion like it is not fun, especially as a writer. At times the very motion of typing on the keyboard is too painful. But a writer can speak words that can be later written down. We learn how to cope.
Pain is not something I would readily identify as a gift. Especially as we enter into this season of gift giving. I have never yet thought, “I think Tommy will get the gift of pain, let me wrap that one up.” Yet I see that Christ suffered with pain and a great attitude. I need this perspective. In fact Hebrews 12:1 states it this way, “Because of the joyawaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people;then you won’t become weary and give up.”
Then 1 Peter above goes on to state the reason that pain is an actual gift. It is a rare thing to see a person anxious to do God’s will these days. Often times we want to do what is on our agenda. We have plans. We want to walk our own way, yet when we have been given pain we learn to endure. We are tested and come out stronger than we were in the beginning. Our faith is no longer light weight. As we walk through pain and experience the power of Christ in us through it we get a taste of life with Him.
We realize we do not want to turn back to our own ways. We become exceedingly more ecstatic to do His will. WE see with new eyes, we see what really matters. We must tell others. We need to keep this passion in our writing. It helps us to connect and stay real. So what seemed at first like maybe a lump of coal actually turned into a purified diamond wrapped in the most magnificent bow. Pain can be your friend if you let Him train you with it.
Father, thank you for the gift of suffering. Sometimes gifts come in ways we least expect. Sometimes we do not understand them but we know we can trust You. We know that You love us so much that You use these things to make us more and more like You. Thank you from trusting us with this precious gift. Let us be trained well by it.
