the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Voice of the Lord
Even though he was the Son, he learned obedience through his sufferings (Hebrews 5:8).
The fear of pain has weakened Western civilization and made it soft on morality and on commitment to causes. Pain is something that needs to be mastered by the individual, just like eating a hot chile pepper.
I remember my daughter going to a shop on Ben-Yehudah Street in Jerusalem to have her ears pierced. She knew that she would experience some pain. But she was willing to submit to this pain because she considered it worthwhile. Women become pregnant, fully aware that there will be pain involved as the child is born. Men in Israel enter the army, and even volunteer for the best fighting units, with the full knowledge that training is painful. Athletes enter competition realizing that, without pain, there is no victory.
Common to all of these examples is the fact that pain is often a means to gain. The Messiah suffered pain on the tzlav (cross) so that we might have everlasting life. We need to know that even when the pain is not by our own choice, God can use it for good if we allow him. Overcoming pain is a means to learning more about ourselves and about the Lord.
...remember that without pain there is no gain, even in the things of God.
JS
The Voice of the Lord, Copyright © 1998 by the Lewis and Harriet Lederer Foundation, Inc. Published by Messianic Jewish Publishers, Distributed by Messianic Jewish Resources, www.messianicjewish.net. All rights reserved. Used by permission. No part of this article may be reproduced in print or on the web, or transmitted in any form, without the written permission of the publisher.
