Nobody, I repeat,
nobody enjoys pain or willingly chooses to suffer, unless a person has chronic
mental illness. Pain always has a negative connotation, which is not entirely
true. Human experience and elementary medicine teach us that pain has an
important role in our lives. Pain warns us of danger. For example, you put your
hand too close to the fire, your nervous system alerts your brain and you feel
pain. Your reflexes kick in, you withdraw your hand and you are saved from
injury. This proves that pain is not bad afterall. Generally, pain is an
indicator, or rather a symptom to a more serious problem or an issue that
allows a person to take corrective measures.
If you notice, certain
amount of pain is involved in physical development. People with an intention of
body building do workouts which cause pain, sports like boxing, martial arts,
athletics are quite demanding and inherent with pain, which people endure to
excel. The same is true with character formation. Suffering and pain can have a
major impact on character formation. There is the truth in what the Russian
author Fyodor Dostoevsky commented on character formation through suffering
- “Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large
intelligence and a deep heart.”
A world devoid of pain
and suffering will lead people to sudden catastrophe or worse, death. I often
refer to a condition called CIPA (Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with
Anhidrosis). This is a condition where one does not feel pain at all and it is
dangerous because the person is unaware, they have hurt themselves. Parents of
children suffering from this condition wished if God could bless them with a
sense of pain in order to be careful. The point I wish to bring to focus is God
in His sovereignty has incorporated pain in creation for our well-being. At the
same time, I do not want to brush off the fact that pain and suffering are also
caused by humans, like Cancer, Coronavirus and many other diseases for which we
pay a huge price.
I would like to
conclude with the story of God recorded in the Bible, where history
resonates with the fact about the sufferings Jesus went through. The Bible
says, He chose to suffer, undergo gruesome torture and experience excruciating
pain on the cross of Calvary. Jesus who rose again on the third day, could have
fought against the forces of darkness and escaped the cross, but rather He
obediently underwent pain in order to die for the sins of humans. This is the
glorious story of salvation. All that we are expected to do is believe and
accept this gift of salvation offered by Him. Unlike other gods, He did not
wage holy war or fight enemies but demonstrated love through His sacrifice for
our sins. Therefore, we don’t have to work out our salvation by our own efforts
but just accept what He has already offered us. You can choose to know more
about Him.
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