Pain In The Pew

Pain in the Pew

Matthew 9:12 “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.”

I usually start my beauty ritual on Saturday by painting my nails, fixing my hair and thinking about what I am going to wear. By Sunday morning, I look again in my closet for my nicest outfit for church. I have learned that the nicer the outfit the less attention to the real me, the one with all the scars from the pain that my world has bestowed upon me during the week.

Lately, I have been more aware of those hurting around me... maybe because of my own pain. It’s kind of like when I was pregnant, everyone was pregnant. Or for you men when you bought a certain manly truck, everyone had that truck now. You get the picture!

But as I sit in the pew and look around, I begin to speculate; how are the parents dealing with life since their child left home? ...Or...

How is the newly widow or widower managing life without his / her lifelong partner? It sometimes takes me into my own “what ifs”; a place I care not go.

These are just a few of the lives I know about. What about the church family member that quietly sits there in their Sunday best? We assume they are doing well and have their life all together! They sure look the part. They smile when they should, clap and sing hallelujah. All the while, they are crying on the inside.

How heartbreaking it is for those sitting in the pews, suffering in silence, when they desperately need someone to guide them into the arms of Jesus Christ! And by the way, mourning a loss has no statute of limitation. Tragedy changes a person. We expect them to be their "old self". It ain't going to happen. They have become a different person. We see that as not "getting over" their crisis. But God doesn't intend for us to remain the same---it's part of our journey. I have come to believe that the reason is it hurts us to see someone hurt so much is our own fear. What if that happened to us? That scares us to death.

So what do we do?

We are the arms of Jesus and we can love those next to us and be a vessel of Christ. (2 Timothy 2:21) I will be the first to admit, I am too proud, embarrassed-- call it what you may-- to call on help. Pride is in all of us. We are all hurting in one area or another, are we not? And we all have areas of our life we would prefer the world not to know. Being a Christian does not mean we are free from all pain and suffering. It does not mean we are free from sin either.

^{Ro 7:22} For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;^{Ro 7:23} but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. ^{Ro 7:24} What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Did you ever notice that if (and yes we do) talk about others, it makes us look really really good! (Matt 7:3) The difference is as a Christian if we tack on "bless his or her heart" it gives absolution to the whole sin of gossip.

Being a Christian does NOT make us perfect!! It just means we have begun the process of being healed from the damage that has been done and are fighting to make sure there will be no more damage. It means we know we will survive and be loved and be happy again… one day.

Our struggles do not make us separate from each other, we separate ourselves. We are not alone. We don’t need to lash out at anyone. (Matt 7:1-2)We need to need each other. We need to rely on each other much in the way a recovery group helps addicts. We are addicts of a sort; we are addicted to the world, to sin.

We may come to the church to be fed spiritually but we should be feeding those around us as well. I challenge you to feed someone in your life, church, family or whomever God puts in your path. And if you aren't sure, reach out to those that are dressed up the nicest.

A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.

Be someone’s light…(Jn 12:46)