Healing Pain

The last year and a half has not been a great time for my cycling. Many things have gotten in the way, including work, major life transitions, weather, and various other distractions. My body is not in the shape it should be in. It needs some serious conditioning to get back to the place where I can ride a long distance in a decent amount of time. Unfortunately, getting back to that place is hard work. It's a lengthy, painful process. It takes time on the bike and time in the gym, and so far, I haven't found time for both. But I love to ride and as a result I'm determined that I will get back to a place where I can ride a hundred miles in a day without suffering. But getting there will take some suffering.

Isn't that ironic? It reminds me of the irony of Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 2:4: "For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you." Paul wrote words to the Corinthians that were painful for them to hear. He had to confront their complacency and tolerance of sin.

Sin had grown up in the midst of their congregation, gross, blatant, even flagrant sin, yet they did nothing about it. Left unchecked, it would have become a cancer that would have destroyed the body of Christ in Corinth. So Paul had to condemn and convict the Christians there for turning a blind eye to such sin. He had to rebuke them and chide them into action in order to excise the sinner from the body and set things right.

Paul's words hurt. The action that the Corinthians took against the unrepentant sinner in their midst hurt. It was a painful process. Ironically, the reason for the pain was love. Paul loved the Corinthians and could not stand to see their complacency toward sin destroy them. But demonstrating his love for them caused them pain.

Isn't it ironic that if we love someone we must sometimes cause them pain in order to set them straight. I can remember as a child my mother saying when I was going to get a spanking: "This hurts me more than it hurts you." I didn't understand her words then, but I do now. It's painful to us when love demands that we cause another person to feel pain in order to correct them. But if we truly love them we must bear our pain and inflict the pain on them that will set them back on the right path, the path of life in Jesus Christ.

Is there someone you love whose sin you need to confront? True love will not let them go on sinning without correction. And if you stay in touch with the pain you feel as you confront them, then your rebuke and correction will truly be a loving act and will be done in a loving manner. God's love for us was so great that he bore the pain of our sin himself. He sent his Son to die for our sins. By his wounds we are healed. Now that's amazing love!