No Pain, No Gain
“If only my anguish could be weighed and all my misery be placed on the scales!
It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas—no wonder my words have been impetuous.
– Job 6:2-3
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
- Matthew 11:28-30 NIV
“No Pain, No Gain” ~ Most of us at one time or another have heard this saying in our lives, especially if we’ve been around the world of athletics. We’ve also heard similar sayings like, “Pain is only temporary…” or “Get up, suck it up, walk it off, fight through the pain.”
One Sunday a few years ago, I reached down to pick up a pen out of a chair at church and was stopped cold in my tracks. At that very moment, my back decided it didn’t like the way that I had bent over and let me know it by giving me back spasms like no other I have felt. It stopped me in my tracks. It took my breath away and hurt like crazy. And since the service was about to start, I didn't have the luxury of trying to walk it off and loosen up the spasm. I just had to sit and fight through the pain. Then rise and sit again and again as we sang and listened to the pastor’s message. Good message, just not good for my aching back.
We’ve heard all those saying about pain. We’ve even tried to live by most of them. However, sometimes pain is just pain. Sometimes those sports sayings and that internal fortitude to fight through it doesn’t work. Sometimes pain is just that… pain.
Sometimes pain isn't physical in nature at all, but mental, emotional, even spiritual. Pain that hurts. Pain that is real. Pain that debilitates. Pain that for one reason or another seems to be tougher to handle and deal with during this season, during this time of the year. The emotional scars of the past seem deeper, the memories of yesterday leading to the pain of today and tomorrow. And it hurts.
And it is all around us (even as we may deal with our own pain.) Just like with Job, no matter how much we may try to fight through it, sometimes pain is just pain.
We, as Believers, are called to love the Lord, our God, with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We are called to shine like the stars in heaven, to shine like a city on a hill. Our neighbors may be hurting, may be in pain, may be suffering, may be struggling through the Christmas season. These neighbors may live next door, but also may be the employee down the hall, the person in the next cubicle, the rude person in the line in front of us, a family member, a friend, a homeless person, a family in need.
We are called to shine the love of Jesus on the world around us. Shine like that ancient star of long ago that that showed the way, that pointed the shepherds and the passersby to the Child born in the manger, the Child that would bring peace and hope, and grace and mercy and forgiveness. That star pointed to that Child that grew to be a man, but not some ordinary man, but a man who would live and die and live again so that we might have life and live it abundantly.
That Child grew to be the Man who would be the Savior of the world.
This season, let’s point the world to that Savior… so others might see, might know, might somehow begin to heal.
Keep the Faith... Carpe Diem
