Love’s Gift Through Pain
Love cannot exist without pain. ~The Anchoress
The Anchoress wrote a post that so deeply moved me and it spurred me on to write on this topic myself.
This time of the year, one cannot help but reflect again on the most profound love-gift that has ever been given to man-kind. It is a gift, so precious, so valuable and so indescribable, that all there is left to do is to grasp it firmly into our bosom and try to comprehend, on some level - with our finite minds, the mystery which it holds.
Never before has there been one who descended from heaven and gave himself for man-kind. Only Jesus Christ, the Anointed One, was able to do that because He was commissioned by God, by Himself, to pierce through darkness and enter this linear world of ours. A world, so limited in its understanding, so ignorant of truth, and so sinful of its own making.
He stood among us, this God, this Holy God, and through His son, Jesus Christ, He showed us His heart. With a passion so fierce, He did His work. All that He did was driven by only one prevailing power and that power is Love.
Jesus the Christ displayed compassion, kindness and mercy as no one ever could. There were no formulas to go by. There were no rules to remember. Love operates from the heart and it is reckless in its giving. Love was the only means in which to bring humanity into a life of meaning, of purpose, and of abundance.
God withheld nothing from us!
He knew before He descended from heaven, the pain that He would endure….and conquer. He knew what we, with our finite human mind , could never comprehend. Thus, He spoke in the only language that we could understand. Pain
Jesus cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing,” as He hung suspended between heaven and earth, because of the raw, primitive emotions of hate and envy that men everywhere are capable of at their worst. (Luke 23:34)
His love penetrated though the darkest of dark. All the universe became silent, if even just for a moment, to witness Love in its purest form. To understand once and for all that healing of our broken humanity comes only through the redeeming power of Love.
Love cannot exist without pain.
Those who embrace this understanding, will lay aside formulas and rules to go by. They will, through their own devotion and love for God, reach out to humanity recklessly and unconditionally…with a passionate desire to love. It is in this abandonment to love that transformations will take place right before their eyes. Salvation and healing will be the natural by-product as love pierces through the heart and heals. Love itself can and will heal and make whole the body, mind and spirit.
As we embrace each other with this understanding, let us pray that God will raise up a people in this hour, who know how to love. All of creation groans and travails for such a people to arise. (Rom.8) It is only as we abide in Him, that this will become a possibility. God IS Love and in this Love, Light is manifested. As this pure Light of love is manifested, Truth will stand on its own. Thus, all ignorance and darkness will be no more. (I John 1:5)
It is at this juncture that all tears will be wiped away and pain will no longer have a place in the hearts of men.
Let us never fear to step out to love and to be love. This must be done intelligently, compassionately, and genuinely. Pain exists everywhere without love…but love can never exist without pain…until that final moment of complete understanding, complete enlightenment. This holy sacrifice was given once and for all. The pain of ignorance was beyond human comprehension. It was agony at its worst. Mankind has, at last, been freed from a life of misery and futility. We have been freed into a life of certainty - a life of communion with our Creator.
Yes, indeed, we have been freed into a life without pain - if we can truly comprehend and accept this truth.
