The Pain of Love
Love is one of the most misunderstood things in the world. God is one of the other most misunderstood things in the world. God is love; so this really isn't all that shocking. People associate love with a variety of emotions. Pain happens to be one of the emotions mentioned when referring to love. This makes perfect sense when I see the pain endured by Christ because of his great love for us.
I often wonder if the physical pain of the nails, the beatings, and the crown of thorns paled in comparison to the spiritual pain Jesus felt. In that one moment, Jesus bore the spiritual weight of the entire universe. And was it ever heavy with all the evil things in there. A choice was made by him to love us so much that he was willing to die to continue that love. He did not want to be separated from us. What amazes me is that he loved those who would choose to be separate from Him for all of eternity. Yet he agonizingly loved them anyways! He mentioned in one of his sermons that it is easy to love those who love you back; but there is something special to love your enemies. He said it and he did it!
This has been a week of pain for me. I have loved as accurately as I know how. I knew the pain would be great and quite honestly the only way for me to deal with that pain appropriately is to marvel at the love Christ showed me. Praise him for his painful love and thank you that I can painfully love others.
