"A Painful View from a Hospital Bed"
Rudy (not his real name) was quite the character. He was my hospital roommate two weeks ago while I was recuperating from colon surgery. When he wasn¹t propositioning or cussing out one of the nurses, pulling out his IV, or trying to sweet talk the cafeteria into bringing him contraband food; he was twenty-four hours a day complaining about his pain and bellyaching about having to be in the hospital. He was miserable. AndŠconsequently, so was I.
Rudy is a meth addict, totally dominated by his bodily desires. A good friend of mine (a former meth addict), who also knew Rudy, tried to read the Bible with him as an encouragement to him, but to no avail. He couldn¹t think beyond his pain and his body. All he wanted was to ³feel good² and the only way he could begin to understand that was physically.
That, in a nutshell, describes not just meth addicts but the hurting world we live in, doesn¹t it? Dominated by fleshly desiresŠcommitted to comfortŠ WE just want to physically feel good!
Did I say WE?
Such was the painful view I got from my hospital bedŠas I also struggled to read my Bible and rest in the Lord in my pain. It hit me how dominated I could be by my body and how fleshly was my perspective in just wanting to feel better!
And yet, at the same time, I also realized how quick I was to consider how ³different² I was than my roommate Rudy! But was I any different than a meth addict or alcoholic or any other person in pain trying in some way to ease their pain? Was I not seeking to deal with my pain in the same way-fleshly?
Now don¹t misunderstandŠ I am not ignoring the reality of physical pain or the importance of dealing with it. When I was lying in the hospital, I was in real physical pain! Oh yes!
What I have been challenged about in my physical pain is how fleshly I can be in responding to my pain, whether physical, emotional or relational and how absolutely inadequate such a response is.
Dear people, our world is in horrible pain due to sin and its consequences. But, how can we minister hope to people in the midst of their pain unless we know real hope ourselves in dealing with our pain? We must know a deep hope that strengthens and sustains us no matter what the pain we are going through or we have nothing to offer another!
If we are seeking to alleviate our pain through possessions, TV, amusement, church activity, work, hobbies, medication, or whatever; we are no different than the meth addict alleviating their pain through drugs. We are just choosing different pain killers. Our perspective on alleviating pain is the exact same. It is the same fleshly perspective.
This is the point...if we do not really believe that Jesus is the real answer to OUR pain and pursue Him accordingly, we will not really be able to offer Him to a world in pain.
THANK YOU SO MUCH for standing with us in prayer and financial support as we seek to bring the Hope of Christ to those in deep pain. We could not do it without you. Thank you!