Pain-Free Living?

I can't say that I remember my first spanking but I can tell you that I didn't like it.  I am certain of that because the spanking that I do remember all involved one specific feature: Pain!  And pain is something I don't care for anymore than Sam likes "green eggs and ham" (Dr Zeus).

None of likes pain.  In fact, we are hard-wired to recoil from it and avoid it whenever possible.  And, that recoil reflex can be a life saver.  We recoil when we touch something hot, saving us from being burned.  We pull back when feeling a prick of the skin saving us from a puncture or worse.  We learn, early on, that pain equals danger and withdrawal is called for.

From this association, we begin to believe that pain is evil and to be avoided at all costs.  We even begin to doubt God's presence or his goodness or his power.  If God is all we believe him to be, why is their pain?  Shouldn't we, as his children, experience pain-free living?  Isn't that what all parents want for their children?  Isn't it?  No!  No?  Yes!

Let me ask the parents.  Have you ever allowed your child to experience pain?  Have you not sit back and watched them bump their bottom when learning to walk?  Have you not allowed them to dump their bicycle as they were mastering balance?  Why?  The pain they experienced was not evil but instructive and developmental.

Going further: Have you not ever inflicted pain on your child?  Perhaps a swat to the bottom or the isolation of a time out or the agony of "No!"  Why would you do that?  Why do you inflict the pain of discipline on the child you love?  Because you know it is for their benefit, that it will save them from harm later on or will better equip them for the challenges of life coming down the pike.

Listen to what the writer of the Book of Hebrews has to say on the subject: "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it" (12:11).

So, the pain of discipline comes not of of hate but of love: "Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined---and everyone undergoes discipline---then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness" (Heb 12:7-10)..

Pain-free living in a fallen world would not be evidence of a loving God but of a disinterested one or a God who disliked us.  God allows pain to educate us about potential death and disaster.  He even brings on pain to warn us against the snares of Satan.  We live in a dangerous, fallen world that is ruled by an Evil Despot (Satan): "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (1 Pet 5:8).

Don't look for a pain-free life.  Instead, look to pain to help you live a life of freedom.  Learn from pain.  Don't just recoil from pain.  Recoil from the danger on the other side of pain. Allow pain to be your teacher: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, a whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything" (Js 1:2-4).  Jus' Say'n.