A Purpose for the Pain

Whenever one of my friends tells me she has gone into labor, I’m never sure whether to express congratulations or sympathy. I mean, I’m happy that her long wait is over and the baby is finally coming, but I know that labor means an intense season of pain.

One friend had a particularly good perspective on this. She said that it was ok to be happy for her, because the pain meant that her baby was coming.

Her pain was for a purpose, and while she focused on the purpose, the pain became easier to bear.

This reminds me of 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, which says,

“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

I’m sure in the midst of my friend’s labor, her pain didn’t seem as if it were “but for a moment,” but within a matter of hours, it was over, and she could hold her new little baby in her arms.

Our trials in life also don’t seem temporary, but as Christians, we know that even the longest trial on earth will seem like just the blink of an eye once we get to heaven. The fresh, never-fading joy of living in the presence of God will make anything we suffer here entirely worth enduring.

Until then, how are we to bear the struggle that is our earthly life? By following Jesus’ example,

“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)

Just as Jesus took up His cross of suffering, despising its shame, counting the painful ordeal as insignificant compared to the joy that was to come, so we too are to follow Jesus’ example. We are commanded to take up our cross of suffering, shame, sorrow, loss, and anything else God may call us to bear for His name, but instead of bearing our burdens heavily, bowed down and discouraged, we are to bear them triumphantly, our eyes fixed on Jesus and the joy that is ours for all eternity.

The thing that makes our earthly pain bearable is its purpose. God only allows in our lives that which He plans to use for our good. We can confidently yield to the will of our loving, trustworthy God, rejoicing as we take up our cross and follow Him.

“If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” 

Luke 9:23