One Pain, Two People

To simplify things, let us say that there are two kinds of people in this world: There are those who believe in the saving grace of Jesus Christ, and have received salvation in Him; and there are those who do not believe, and have not yet been saved to Him. But one thing both of them have in common is pain. Few, if any, ever make through this life without ever experiencing a substantial amount of pain. And nearly everyone, at one time or another, has asked the question, "How could a loving God allow pain to happen to His people--or to anyone for that matter?" The answer is not a simple one by any means, but we can rest assured that all pain serves a specific purpose within the will of God. I think that regardless of the person, pain is always allowed to happen for one purpose--to push the one in pain closer to God. 

Now this process does not always look the same, nor will it always have the same result. As I mentioned, there are two different kinds of people--Believers and non-Believers--but both have choices in the face of pain. And though their circumstances are vastly different, those choices are quite similar. When experiencing pain, a person can do one of two things--he can either turn from God, or run to Him. 

For the non-Beliver, the choice he makes is often to say that his pain is clearly evidence that no "God of Love" could possibly exist, if he has been allowed to feel such pain. But he may also see things another way: "If pain is basically inevitable, how am I to deal with it?" Or perhaps, "Can I face that pain alone?" If he is asking this question, then he is well on his way to realizing exactly what God desperately wants him to understand--that although he has the choice to live apart from God, he most certainly needs God in his pain. 

For the Believer, the choice is almost the same. When one who has experienced the saving grace of Jesus comes into pain, he may decide that this is "not what he signed up for" and decide that living close to God is too dangerous, and perhaps he'd face less pain if he were to walk away (I do not intend to get into whether or not a man can lose his salvation, nor is that what I am suggesting here. This is more about the choice of a life lived apart from God, not necessarily apart from His salvation). For the Believer who is walking closely with Jesus, however, he will know that pain serves a great purpose. He will often see pain as a sort of reminder: for as long as we experience pain, we know that we are in a fallen, broken world. But one day, pain will be lost. It will not follow us past death, where we will experience eternity in the sweet presence of the One who put death in its grave, once and for all. 

So it would seem that the decision we make about pain would be largely based on what we know about the God who allows it. If we understand the gospel of Jesus Christ, then we know that accepting his saving grace does not mean the end of our pain. It is more of a new lens through which to see our pain, and a way for us to deal with it. When we truly know Jesus, we know that we can take our pain to Him, and that He wants to walk with us through it. After all, it was Jesus who came to this earth to carry the load of all of our sins on his back, and hung on a cross to pay that debt. If he would do that for us, why not take our pain to Him now? 

Even Just One

Tonight I had the privilege of attending a Young Life banquet. I knew pretty well what to expect going in, and was looking forward to seeing many of my friends. But one particular moment caught me off guard, and still, hours later, has my attention.

The general purpose of the banquet is to provide a little entertainment, offer a gospel message or two, and inform supporters of the ministry what’s been going on for the past year, and what to expect in the year to come. Several awesome videos were put together, and I’ll admit I almost cried in two of them. But the particular moment to which I was referring was when a young high school senior boy stood in front of the 400 or so adults in attendance and shared about the impact of Young Life in his life.

He began his story by saying that his father essentially walked on his family when he was only ten or twelve. He could have spent more time on that, but he instead focused on the positive: through the hardships, he and his brother and mother grew much, much closer. But it wasn’t long before his brother grew up and left the house, and the older role model that this young man so desperately needed was gone. It was at that time that he said Young Life came along and gave him a new perspective. His friend who invited him, and the Young Life leader who stood on stage behind him (a friend of mine) introduced him to the Jesus he never knew—the real Jesus. The Jesus who wasn’t just some man who lived and died a long time ago. The Jesus who was God in the flesh. The Jesus who died on a cross to bear our sins. The Jesus who still lives today. The Jesus who wants a relationship with each of us. And that Jesus was new to him. And when he met Him, he couldn’t avoid him anymore. He gave his life to Jesus, and credited Young Life with the introduction.

And as he stood up there telling everyone his story, it hit me. I looked around at all the people in the room who had contributed. Almost every single person there had given their time, their money, or both to support the mission of Young Life. That’s why they were all in this room together. And this high school senior was telling them all what their efforts had meant in his life. It was so beautiful. And at that moment all I could think was that even if this kid was the only kid who ever came to know Jesus through those efforts, it would have been worth it. There would be no regrets. And that’s how Jesus feels. Even if that boy had been the only person in the world saved by His death on the cross, He would have done it all the same. And that’s true for each and every one of us.

So remember, if you do anything to support a ministry, or just to reach out to any person you may know in order to bring them the gospel, take heart. God moves in those efforts. But even more importantly, He loves each of us enough to die on a cross—even if we were the only one He’d saved.