Suffering and Avoidance

"I'm not like other people ... I don't like pain. It hurts me." 
                                                                           - Daffy Duck

Saturday at 4:00 pm, Melissa was once again "under the knife" - for the second time in a week. Last week it was to remove a cyst from her left foot - and that procedure put her out of work for the week and hopping around on crutches. This time the procedure was a bit more intrusive - the surgeon put a scope in Melissa's right knee to find the source of the pain and swelling she's experienced now for years. Apparently the culprit was arthritis and its side effects and the doctor was able to smooth out her joint. 

After an hour and a half in recovery, Melissa was ready to go home. It was not a pleasant trip. I've been fighting another sinus infection and Melissa couldn't get comfortable in the van. The sky dumped rain and didn't let up. We hit late Friday afternoon rush hour traffic and crawled around 465 ... in the rain. 

With the rain and traffic and a fastfood stop and a prescription stop, a trip that normally takes around 60 minutes ended after 2 hours and 40 minutes.

When we arrived home, I drove through the yard to get Melissa as close as possible to the front door. The rain continued and the temperature had dropped about twenty degrees from the day before. By the time Melissa got settled on the couch, I was feeling pretty miserable.

But when your wife is sprawled on a couch - where she will stay for the next three days non-stop except for bathroom breaks - and she's begging for her pain medication because somebody scraped around on the inside of her knee, it makes you a little ashamed of wanting pity for being tired and cold and wet. 

It reminded me of an experience I had one night during my September trip to Haiti and a lesson that God has been trying to teach me for several weeks now.

One afternoon about mid-way through my two weeks in Haiti last month, a small twinge in my lower back grew steadily into an annoying dull ache. When I crawled under the mosquito net and into bed, I soon discovered that no position – left side, right side, back, stomach, legs tucked, legs straight – eased the pain whatsoever. I methodically rotated on the bed, punctuating each move with a grunt or a groan or a deep sigh. 

Exasperated, I finally sat up, kneeled on the bed and began to pray. It wasn’t a faith-filled, Spirit-led prayer. It was a whiny, self-pitying prayer. Poor, poor me: I was the guy with a backache ... lying with a full stomach on a comfortable mattress in a spacious house with tile floors and running water and a working refrigerator in a neighborhood filled with unemployed and hungry individuals sleeping on dirt floors in the utter darkness of flimsy shacks far from a source of drinking water.

I thank God for not smiting me during that prayer. 

The Lord started to whisper something to me that night: a very important lesson.

He said, "You're a wimp." (That's just my simplified paraphrase.)

He wasn't trying to be rude - I took it as a rebuke from a loving Father.

Since that night, I've started to notice quite a few references to suffering in the Bible. For example, Jesus had a hard time convincing his disciples that he "must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation" (Luke 17:25 and elsewhere) and that it was all part of God's plan. Later, after the Lord had knocked Saul to the ground and blinded him, He sent Ananias to Saul to proclaim to him how He would "show him how much he must suffer for My name's sake" (Acts 9:16). 

And it would be easy to convince ourselves that Paul's calling was unique, so surely this call to suffering was as well, but later we find Paul writing to his protege, Timothy, this command: "Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 2:3).

Paul even tells the Roman church that they are "heirs of God and fellow heirs of Christ" IF "indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him" (Romans 8:17).

It looks like SUFFERING is meant to be a part of being a Christian. Even an INTEGRAL part of being a Christian. 

I'm still learning about this, so I welcome any feedback you might give me in the comments section below, but it seems to me that in the American church, at least, there is not much said about the theology of suffering. 

American CULTURE at large is definitely ANTI-suffering. Anti-discomfort. Pro-convenience. Anti-pain. Pro-pleasure. Americans definitely want the closest parking space. Definitely and quickly satisfy the smallest hunger pang with a snack. Definitely deserve to lose weight without either hunger or exercise. 

And the American church is definitely "of" the culture and not just "in" it in this respect.

My high school English students often swap the spelling of "defiantly" for "definitely" in their writing. In this case, "defiant" might be the best word for the American church's approach to suffering and discomfort. The church - with our air conditioners, padded pews, and expensive "welcoming" buildings - has largely bought what American culture is selling. 

There's a local church advertising on the Christian radio station that they will give a $5 gas card to any first time visitor who bothers to make the drive to their worship service. I understand the intent of this gimmick, but the message seems to be "it won't cost you a dime to worship with us".

I am not saying that as Christians we are obligated to go looking for suffering - but we dare not stop short of following Christ when we see that his path leads through suffering. Because it will. After all, we were warned up front that following Him meant laying down our lives and picking up our crosses.

I've got more to share about what God is teaching me on this front, but this post is long enough already and I have a "to do" list a mile long. I will continue later. In the meantime, I would LOVE to hear some feedback, either here or on Facebook. Thanks and God bless!

Found this picture on a friend's Facebook page. So does following Jesus lead to a more difficult life or a less difficult life? (Put your hand down, Joel Osteen ... we already know what you think...)