SUFFERING: Why do we try to AVOID it?

Why do we want to avoid suffering? This is what I asked of the Lord today.

It's almost as though we've bought into the lie that life is to be great, wonderful, happy, exciting...all the time.

I imagine this is the unrealistic expectation for life that catapults men and women into affairs. Real marriages, real problems, real conflicts, real issues...they are all part of REAL LIFE.

Yesterday I came home after dropping off Daniel, sharing with my husband about what I found out about the troublesome little boy in Daniel's class. Bottom line: He's troubled.

Since taking my Crisis Counseling class, I had already hypothesized that this little boy who has no boundaries, hits Daniel, and is disruptive in class came from a home either with tribulation at home between mom and dad, or had no dad, or was going through a divorce.

Come to find out, his mom and dad divorced last fall, and recently, the boy and his mom had to move into the grandparents home due to financial issues. When I came home to report that my discernment was right...my husband's response was:

TELL ME SOMETHING GOOD...I DON'T WANT TO HEAR NEGATIVE!

 

While I see where he is definitely coming from, I responded: Sorry, but it's the truth...unfortunately, there's not a lot of good going on in the world today...outside these 4 walls! And it's true!

 

There are people going through divorce, losing their kids, losing their homes, going through bankruptcies, being giving 5 months to live, having strokes, blood tests for cancer, grieving over losing kids, parents, friends, family to death or drugs. Folks, there's not a lot of good going on.

 

We have two options:

• AVOID IT and live on 5150 Denial Blvd.
• ACKNOWLEDGE IT and learn how to cope

I think it's our media that inundates us with the fantasy that luxury is supposed to be a way of life. But for many, it was their pursuit of vanity and luxury that motivated their spending and refinancing that's left them without their home and family.

 

Where did we get this idea that life is suppose to be peachy king, anyways?

 

Not the Bible! If you read that book, suffering was reality for our biblicals heroes. Look at Daniel in the lion's den, Kind David hiding in the caves as he was pursued to be killed, Job losing everything, Elijah the great prophet who was isoloated and depressed, Paul put in the prison and beat, and Jesus persecuted, rejected, and crucified.

 

While the Bible is full of suffering, it is also full of hope. Christ overcame the world and death by His resurrection. And it's through our faith in Him that we can face the suffering that this life brings. Because face, life is full of suffering.

 

Chasing after a great, easy, rich, full of pleasure and happiness isn't going to make you who God made you to be.

 

Chasing after Jesus, suffering for His name's sake, sacrificing comfort to fulfill His will is what will bring you everlasting, complete joy, satisfaction and peace.

 

Read your Bible with an open heart to what God wants to say to you...not with an attitude that you will choose the verses that support your pursuit of vanity. If for a moment you think chasing riches is God's will....read Ecclesiastes this week.

 

Folks, we've got to let go of materialism and what the 'world' says is ideal and grab onto what the Bible teaches us. Read it, study it, and grow more into the image of Christ!