Purpose of Pain, Part II

From a previous post in reference to running a triathlon: "All who choose to enter such misery must understand the meaning ... the sweet purpose of pain. That day was a physical picture of a spiritual reality ..." What's that all about? Misery with meaning? Purpose in pain? What?! Is there ever purpose in pain? I would have to argue yes. Consider a few examples. A woman goes into labor and experiences great pain, but she is overjoyed by the new life that results from this painful, and purposeful, experience. Consider a doctor who has to reset someone's bone so that it will heal correctly. I've never experienced that, though I think it's safe to assume it's painful; but it serves a purpose: realigning a bone that was separated so that it can heal. And the most purposeful pain ever experienced on this earth was for a similar reason, only it wasn't a bone that needed realigning, it was the human race; it wasn't the human body that was broken, it was the human soul. The painful event took place a couple thousand years ago, but the purpose is just as relevant today as it was then.

So, let's consider why it had to happen. Things were out of alignment with the human race. There was brokenness and pain at every turn. And no one seemed to have the solution. Why so many questions, why so much sorrow? The answer to those questions could only be found by going back several thousand years even before that ... to a garden. The book of Genesis in the Bible gives an account of the earliest days of human history. The first man and woman were in a garden. The garden was planted by the Creator to be enjoyed by the creation. They were given the freedom to experience the world God had created and make their own choices, and they chose to disobey a simple command God had given them. (See Genesis 3 for more details). This one decision brought severe consequences, not only for Adam and Eve, but for every human that would come after them. This act of treason against the King of the world threw things out of order in a cosmic sense, so that all the earth was effected, especially humans. They had commited what amounts to treason against the King of the world. And what is the penalty for treason? Death. So the human race is living on death row, separated from God, with no hope to be proven innocent. This is not the way God wanted things to be, hence the need for cosmic realignment and relational restoration with the Creator-King. How could all this be accomplished?

It could only be accomplished if the penalty for sin was paid by someone who never committed treason, a perfect human to take the penalty for all humans. Problem - no human was qualified to do this ... Until Jesus of Nazareth was born. This human being, who entered the pages of history two thousand years ago, offered to take the death penalty for humanity. But how? How could he do it? He'd have to be perfect and everyone knows that all humans mess up at some point. This is true, but Jesus was more than human, he was also divine. He was God on earth as a man to save men from their pain and to realign humanity. He is the only one who never committed treason against the King, and so He was qualified to take the penalty for the whole human race ... your penalty, my penalty ... our pain. In fact, that was his purpose in being born. (see Luke 19:10 and John 12:27)

Purposeful pain? Yes ... it is seen best in the picture of Jesus on the cross, taking the pain that we deserved, for the purpose of realigning our relationship with God and reuniting our souls with Him. As I ran the triathlon and felt the pain, I couldn't help but remember what the Bible says in Hebrews 12:1,2 " ... let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross ... " The joy set before him? You ... me ... humanity ... restored ... that was the joy, that's why he endured the pain.

Because Jesus experienced meaningful misery and purposeful pain, all humanity has the opportunity to be freed from spiritual death row and realign their lives with God's original purpose in creation ... a relationship with Him, the Creator, the King.