The Heart of Christ Towards Our Pain
If we could understand the depth of Christ’s love towards us, all our fears would subside like the fog.
Are you a believer carrying a broken heart? Do you feel discouraged, frustrated, weary, cynical, or running on empty, or you are thinking to yourself, “how could I mess up this bad, again?” Do you feel at times like God’s patience is wearing thin because of your sins? Have you ever been swept off your feet by sheer pain and wonder if you can go on one more day? If you said yes to one or all of these, then I have some good news.
All our intuitions tell us that Jesus is with us, on our side, present with us, helping us, when our lives are going well, but the moment we hear the doctor say, “it’s cancer,” or a person we love dies, we sometimes feel that Christ is a million miles away. Pain and sorrow bring dark clouds, hiding the light of Christ, and we feel isolated and alone.
How we “feel” isn’t the reality, for Christ is near the broken-hearted. Hebrews 4:15 states, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness…” Did you get that? Jesus sympathizes with our weakness! The word for “sympathize” is a compound word formed from the prefix meaning “with” joined to the verb, “to suffer.” Jesus is with us in our suffering, He feels our pain. It is the depth of this that is often over-looked by Christians, the idea here is that Jesus loves us and is joined with us in our suffering, like a mother is joined to her child who falls and cut his knee. Her heart goes out to her child, in the very same way when a Christian hurts for any reason, the heart of Christ is joined with you in your pain and suffering.
Psalm 34:18, “The Lord is near to the broken hearted and saves the contrite in heart.” And Matthew 12:20 states, “A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish.” When a believer gets bad news, Jesus is with you at that very moment, He is as close as the words on your mouth. The heart of Jesus is drawn into the distress of our pain, when we suffer, He suffers.
When a Christian commits a sin, or sins, we sometimes believe that Jesus repels from us. He is holy, in heaven, separated from sinners and how could He embrace me after I sinned? It seems more likely that when Christ looks at us after we sin, it is with disgust, causing Him nausea. Like when I opened a porta-potty and look inside I am disgusted, I can’t wait to get out of there. Yet when it comes to Christ and us, nothing could be further from the truth. When a child of God sins, it hurts the heart of Christ that His child is filled with regret and guilt. Christ is like the father in the story of the Prodigal Son. The father’s son lives in sin and filth but repents and heads for home. The father seeing his son way off in the distance, runs to meet his lost son, hugs him and gives him gifts. This is the heart of Christ towards any son who sins and repents. It hurts Christ that we turn away from Him and try to carry our guilt and shame.
The biblical understanding of this lies with the idea that a child of God who is sorry for His/Her’s sin. When this happens, Christ is running towards you with open arms of forgiveness.
Christ is near to you when you are in pain, and He is near to you to extend forgiveness when we fail Him. What other religion has a God like our God, who is slow to anger and showers His people with grace, loving kindness, forgiveness, and love?
Beloved, don’t allow the guilt and shame you carry from past or present sins to keep you from the forgiveness of Christ, a forgiveness that you deep down inside you so desperately seek. Christian, come to Christ, learn from Him, for He is humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
A Disciple Whom Jesus loves.
