Living With Thorns (Part 3)
My associate pastor in Seoul was hit by a bus. It’s not as bad as it sounds. He was on his moped, making a right turn at a green light when the bus ran the light. He slammed on the brakes of his moped, and slid underneath the bus, breaking his left arm at the top, near the shoulder.
Now, if you know anything about Koreans, you know they don’t use pain killers like we do in the United States. That’s why the Korean doctor in the emergency room set the bone in my associate’s arm without any kind of painkiller whatsoever!!!
“You must endure the pain.” These were the words of the doctor to the anguished cries of my associate.
Endure the pain. This is the final lesson to be learned as we encounter the thorns that all of us will inevitably experience in our lives.
Endurance. The Bible has a lot to say about endurance, and the power of endurance to dramatically change our lives for good. Jesus endured the cross. The result was he “sat down at the right hand of the Father on His throne.” (See Hebrews 12:2) In Luke 21:9, Jesus tells us, “By your endurance you will gain your lives. (ESV) Romans 5:3 says, “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, which in turn builds in us strength of character and hope for living.”
I don’t like pain, especially pain of the heart and soul. But there are two things I’ve learned about pain in my life. First, pain is inevitable. I may be pain-free at the moment, but I know better than to think I’m going to live out the rest of my days without undergoing pain. Remember what I said in my first devotional about thorns; there are three things we can count on in this world: death, taxes, and pain.
The second thing I’ve learned about pain is, just as the scriptures above promise; when we endure pain, we grow stronger in our spirits. And as the proverb says, “the man or woman with a strong spirit is greater than the person who captures and rules a city.” (Proverbs 16:32)
But I need to be very clear about something - YOU MUST ENDURE PAIN!
That word translated, “endure” is composed of two Greek words that literally mean “to remain under.” It paints a picture of a burden shouldered. It’s heavy, it’s painful, but as much as we would like to get out from under it, we endure.
It is only when we commit ourselves to endure, remaining under the burden of our thorn that we become the disciples Jesus is calling us to be.
I know it’s painful, but shoulder that painful thorn in your life, and you will discover, like Paul, that God’s grace is all you need, and when you are weak, then you are strong.
In Christ,
Dan