A Different Kind of Pain
A Different Kind of Pain
Some pain is hard to describe, and at times it is difficult to determine what is causing the pain. In the medical field there is a term used often times explaining the reason some pain is not able to be used in determining diagnosis through location alone. Referred pain is a phenomenon where pain is felt in a different location from where the underlying injury or disease process is occurring. The reason this happens has to do with the way God created our bodies. When sensory signals from the affected area travel along shared nerve pathways, the brain can misinterpret where the pain is coming from. This is why medical personnel study common referred pain symptoms that frequently correlate with certain illnesses or injuries. For example a heart attack may not reveal itself showing discomfort over the chest area. Instead the pain may be in the left arm, jaw, or shoulder. Gallbladder disease may cause symptoms of pain in the right upper abdomen or back. Followers of Christ will experience a different kind of pain. There is a necessary pain the believer experiences through the sanctification process. Reading Philippians 2:3 may cause heart pain induced by the convicting of the Holy Spirit.
As followers of Christ we don't always know what God is doing in our lives. We pray frequently, "Lord make me more like you." There is pain that can come with those kind of prayers, but it is a different kind of pain. It is a necessary pain believers experience as God prunes the heart. Reading Philippians 2:3 can quickly take a spirit filled believer and transfer them from their present environment of comfort onto an operating table in the operating room of the Great Physician. If one really wants to become more like Christ one must experience pain. The pain of conviction and the pain of the cutting away of the flesh. This is a different kind of pain. Referred pain originating from the soul and the target organ is the human nature. Diffuse pain is another medical term is used to describe pain that is felt all over the body. Diffuse pain can sometimes accurately describe the experience of discomfort when under the sanctification process. There is a good reason for this phenomenon. Jesus wants all of the believer not just some of the believer. We have heard it said Jesus loves you to much to leave you the way you are. More specifically it should be said, "Jesus loves you to much to not prune every part of you and this is why the conviction of the Holy Spirit can be so painful and diffuse.
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself (Philippians 2:3).
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit: This is a challenge to examine the motivations of the heart. When I think of what a conceited person acts like, it makes me cringe. I picture the valley girl in high school defaming a shy quiet student in front of a crowd while moving her head back and forth as if she is keeping the rhythm to a hip hop song. I picture a jock in the football locker room wearing a tank top, threatening to place a smaller intellectual student, who's parents made him join the football team, into a locker and leaving him their during practice. I have seen these things happen and I have many times intervened on behalf of the one that is being treated or regarded as less than. Yet when I am reading Gods word it is not for the cheerleader, or for the jock, it is for me. God is asking me if my ambitions are selfish, and out of conceit. I begin to realize what a complainer I can be and how moodiness is just an excuse I use to disguise my selfishness.I am at times the same as the cheerleader and the jock and this reality does more than make me cringe. I feel a deep pain all throughout my body because I am ashamed. I realize I am selfish and I put myself before others choosing to be selfish instead of loving. I at times place my desires and wants over another despite causing them discomfort and depriving them not of a want, but a need.
How can I act this way as a child of God?
How can I act this way as a pastor?
These are the questions that surface when I feel the sharpness of Gods word cut through with truth beyond bone and the marrow. The word is a double edge sword. On the one side as the tissue separates I see my sinful nature and that causes pain. On the other side of the blade as the tissue is separating I see the underlining of Gods heart and His love for me. His ambition behind pruning me is out of love and His intention is to help me love and to practice humility. He loved me first while I was a sinner and while I wanted nothing to do with Him. He suffered and died a horrible painful death while experiencing separation from the Father on my behalf. This was referred pain in it's truest sense as the cause of Christ bodily diffuse pain originated not even inside His body. His pain is referred pain directly because of my sin. Considering the love I have for others and the love He has for me, the contrast is overwhelming and difficult to bear. It causes a different kind of pain, a necessary pain. It is a pain motivated by love and revealed through a sweet conviction that enlightens the dark areas of the heart.
Believer, it is time to wake up from the sedation. Not from surgical anesthesia, but from the inoculation of sin that has numbed the sensitivity of the Holy Spirit in this area of life. The pain of sweet conviction draws the believer to the Great Physicians scalpel. He is able, faithful, and willing to operate. Do you need to lay at His table and let Him operate?
In lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself: After the removal of selfishness and conceit the believer must follow the discharge instructions. When I hear the word "esteem", my mind automatically refers to the topic of self esteem. This world has indoctrinated generations into thinking many of our social problems stem from having low self esteem. Gods remedy is just the opposite of what the physicians of the mind today would prescribe. Post confession, repentance, and surgery, discharge instructions have to be followed. Christians must apply Philippians 2:3 into their life or the infection of sin will return. Once Jesus has made the heart right, through the power of the Holy Spirit He will equip the believer to cooperate with Himself. The word of God is the discharge instructions and they have to be not only read, but applied. The follower of Christ will either make decisions out of love for others or out of love for self. Repentance is to change one's direction. Humility is not thinking less of oneself, and it is not thinking too much of oneself. Humility is viewing oneself through the eyes of Christ and placing the eyes off of self and on Christ. The word "let" is used to describe the action involved in this cooperation with God. Once treated by the humbling grace of God, there will be a visual correction that takes place. If you have been convicted, confessed, and repent Let God's love flow through you and you will experience a new esteem that is not of self, but of others. When you regard God and yourself based off truth, then you will regard others as God intends you to regard them. You will consider others not as less or equal, but as better.
The greatest recovery experience is a life becoming more like Christ post surgery. When you begin to prioritize others well-being, there is a fulfillment that can never be experienced through selfish ambition or conceit. Sweet conviction of the Holy Spirit through the reading of one verse can produce a different kind of pain, a necessary pain. The believer gets to experience some of the pain of the cross. The amount of pain we experience through sanctification is minute in comparison to what Jesus endured on the cross, but that doesn't reduce His desire for us to identify with Him in His sufferings.
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself (Philippians 2:3).
As followers of Christ we don't always know what God is doing in our lives. We pray frequently, "Lord make me more like you." There is pain that can come with those kind of prayers, but it is a different kind of pain. It is a necessary pain believers experience as God prunes the heart. Reading Philippians 2:3 can quickly take a spirit filled believer and transfer them from their present environment of comfort onto an operating table in the operating room of the Great Physician. If one really wants to become more like Christ one must experience pain. The pain of conviction and the pain of the cutting away of the flesh. This is a different kind of pain. Referred pain originating from the soul and the target organ is the human nature. Diffuse pain is another medical term is used to describe pain that is felt all over the body. Diffuse pain can sometimes accurately describe the experience of discomfort when under the sanctification process. There is a good reason for this phenomenon. Jesus wants all of the believer not just some of the believer. We have heard it said Jesus loves you to much to leave you the way you are. More specifically it should be said, "Jesus loves you to much to not prune every part of you and this is why the conviction of the Holy Spirit can be so painful and diffuse.
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself (Philippians 2:3).
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit: This is a challenge to examine the motivations of the heart. When I think of what a conceited person acts like, it makes me cringe. I picture the valley girl in high school defaming a shy quiet student in front of a crowd while moving her head back and forth as if she is keeping the rhythm to a hip hop song. I picture a jock in the football locker room wearing a tank top, threatening to place a smaller intellectual student, who's parents made him join the football team, into a locker and leaving him their during practice. I have seen these things happen and I have many times intervened on behalf of the one that is being treated or regarded as less than. Yet when I am reading Gods word it is not for the cheerleader, or for the jock, it is for me. God is asking me if my ambitions are selfish, and out of conceit. I begin to realize what a complainer I can be and how moodiness is just an excuse I use to disguise my selfishness.I am at times the same as the cheerleader and the jock and this reality does more than make me cringe. I feel a deep pain all throughout my body because I am ashamed. I realize I am selfish and I put myself before others choosing to be selfish instead of loving. I at times place my desires and wants over another despite causing them discomfort and depriving them not of a want, but a need.
How can I act this way as a child of God?
How can I act this way as a pastor?
These are the questions that surface when I feel the sharpness of Gods word cut through with truth beyond bone and the marrow. The word is a double edge sword. On the one side as the tissue separates I see my sinful nature and that causes pain. On the other side of the blade as the tissue is separating I see the underlining of Gods heart and His love for me. His ambition behind pruning me is out of love and His intention is to help me love and to practice humility. He loved me first while I was a sinner and while I wanted nothing to do with Him. He suffered and died a horrible painful death while experiencing separation from the Father on my behalf. This was referred pain in it's truest sense as the cause of Christ bodily diffuse pain originated not even inside His body. His pain is referred pain directly because of my sin. Considering the love I have for others and the love He has for me, the contrast is overwhelming and difficult to bear. It causes a different kind of pain, a necessary pain. It is a pain motivated by love and revealed through a sweet conviction that enlightens the dark areas of the heart.
Believer, it is time to wake up from the sedation. Not from surgical anesthesia, but from the inoculation of sin that has numbed the sensitivity of the Holy Spirit in this area of life. The pain of sweet conviction draws the believer to the Great Physicians scalpel. He is able, faithful, and willing to operate. Do you need to lay at His table and let Him operate?
In lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself: After the removal of selfishness and conceit the believer must follow the discharge instructions. When I hear the word "esteem", my mind automatically refers to the topic of self esteem. This world has indoctrinated generations into thinking many of our social problems stem from having low self esteem. Gods remedy is just the opposite of what the physicians of the mind today would prescribe. Post confession, repentance, and surgery, discharge instructions have to be followed. Christians must apply Philippians 2:3 into their life or the infection of sin will return. Once Jesus has made the heart right, through the power of the Holy Spirit He will equip the believer to cooperate with Himself. The word of God is the discharge instructions and they have to be not only read, but applied. The follower of Christ will either make decisions out of love for others or out of love for self. Repentance is to change one's direction. Humility is not thinking less of oneself, and it is not thinking too much of oneself. Humility is viewing oneself through the eyes of Christ and placing the eyes off of self and on Christ. The word "let" is used to describe the action involved in this cooperation with God. Once treated by the humbling grace of God, there will be a visual correction that takes place. If you have been convicted, confessed, and repent Let God's love flow through you and you will experience a new esteem that is not of self, but of others. When you regard God and yourself based off truth, then you will regard others as God intends you to regard them. You will consider others not as less or equal, but as better.
The greatest recovery experience is a life becoming more like Christ post surgery. When you begin to prioritize others well-being, there is a fulfillment that can never be experienced through selfish ambition or conceit. Sweet conviction of the Holy Spirit through the reading of one verse can produce a different kind of pain, a necessary pain. The believer gets to experience some of the pain of the cross. The amount of pain we experience through sanctification is minute in comparison to what Jesus endured on the cross, but that doesn't reduce His desire for us to identify with Him in His sufferings.
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself (Philippians 2:3).
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