Chapter Seven - Pain
by Dane C Ortlund
Pain
Pain is a Means
Anguish, disappointments are the building blocks to growth.
Hebrews 12:11 - No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.
The Universality of Pain
Misery, darkness, anguish, regret, shame, and lament color all that we say, do and think.
Pain is not the islands of our live but the ocean; disappointment or letdown is the stage on which all of life unfolds, not an occasional blip on an otherwise comfortable and smooth life.
It is God’s gentle way of drawing us out of the misery of self and more deeply into spiritual maturity.
Slicing of Branches
Throught the pain and disappointment of the world, God weans us from the love of this world.
Do not let the things of this world become what our heart is entwined with. It leads to chapter 5 and idolotry. We need God to help us away from things of this life and turn our hearts to him. It takes a lifetime.
Only Two Choices
From our own strength we cannot bear the least of troubles, but by the Spirit’s assistance we can bear the greatest.
When things are going negatively we feel and think that we are losing.
Because of Jesus, pain seeds glory.
When life hurts we are at a fork in the road.
Cynacism and pulling away
Or PRESS onwards and closer to God
Tears and Joy
Our tears speed up growth as long as they don’t sour us.
It is healthy to get in touch with reality and who we really are. It is at these times God can speak to us.
Mortification
It is pain that is voluntary.
It is “putting to death.” To kill sin.
We are never in neutral. We are either killing sin or sin is killing us.
Either getting stronger or getting weaker.
Only “by the spirit” can we do this. It is not by my power.
Romans 8:11 - The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
Mortification vs Self-Flaggulation
In killing sin we are not completing Christ’s work, we are responding to it.
Suffocating Sin
Killing sin means to look away from it and at Jesus Christ.
Sin will lose it’s attractiveness when time and time again we look at the beauty of Jeus.
Suffocate sin by redirecting our gaze to Jesus.
Ephesians 1:18 - I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.
There is no technique to killing sin. Open the Bible and let God do his work in us.
Fighting is Winner
While we still sin, out fighting of it still distress the devil.
No amount of falls will undo us as long as we continue to get back up.
