Pain is everywhere. And it\u2019s real. God knows about pain. His original design was a world without pain, and without the sin that gave birth to it. Yet when sin entered, and with it death, the entire world hurtled headlong into this vortex of pain (Romans 5:12). Now, death reigns. Pain persists (Romans 5:14). Because of its power, we feel puny, trampled, and crushed. There are all kinds of pain:<\/p>\n
Losing a job.<\/i><\/p>\n
Struggling in a relationship with someone we \u201cjust can\u2019t stand!\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
Cursing at the reflection in the mirror, wishing there were no acne, no extra pounds, no weakness. <\/i><\/p>\n
The pain of dark questions and forbidden desires.<\/i><\/p>\n
The pain of giving in to the same temptation, the same binge eating, the same sexual escapade, the same raging anger, the same agonizing fight. <\/i><\/p>\n
What should we do about it? Often, we respond to pain in a way that fails to acknowledge pain\u2019s reality while ignoring our own human weakness. How should we respond to pain?<\/p>\n
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Pain is part of life. We must acknowledge its presence. Beyond mere acknowledgement, however, we must respect its severity and gravity. Pain is overbearing. If we try to cope with pain by thinking of it as a mere mind problem, or emotional disturbance, then we are doing ourselves a serious disservice. Pain. Is. Real.<\/p>\n
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I\u2019ve seen people ignore the pain in their life. But you can\u2019t deal with pain by walking it off, or hoping it goes away. Pain goes deeper, lasts longer, and creates havoc. When we ignore it, we live in a state of artificial happiness. Which is to say, we live a false identity.<\/p>\n
At times, Christian communities don\u2019t know how to \u201ctreat\u201d people\u2019s pain, so they ignore it. People come to church, put on their plastic smiles, and lie to each other: \u201cHow are you doing?\u201d \u201cGood. Yeah. Doing well.\u201d Right. And all the while, that smiling person is thinking of the pain that racks their emotions, the wreck of their marriage, the sinking depression regarding their poor performance a work, and the explosive anger they expressed towards their teenage daughter that very morning.<\/p>\n
Pain is dirty. It\u2019s not fun to be involved in. It somehow associates us with negative things, sad things, sinful things. So we ignore it.<\/p>\n
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Where does pain come from? The easy answer is \u201csin,\u201d and technically, that\u2019s right. But whose sin? Yours? Your spouse\u2019s? Adam\u2019s? Satan\u2019s? The truth is, we\u2019re all guilty as sinners, which is why we need to be redeemed. But once redeemed, our sin nature has been abolished. Do we still deal with sin\u2019s vestigial effects, its temptations, its pull to sin? Of course.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s time to stop heaping on the shame that self and self alone is responsible for all the pain and turmoil of life. Scripture tells us that \u201csin reigned in death,\u201d which refers to life before Jesus covered us with his complete righteousness. But after redemption \u201cgrace…reigns through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord\u201d (Romans 5:21). It\u2019s true that our sin does result in pain (Proverbs 13:15), but what about those who are fighting sin in faith, and repenting of sin when it happens?<\/p>\n