Jesus Has You

My life is a life marred with pain. Yet in that pain, I wish that Christ would be magnified. I wish that His glory would be shown even in the midst of my suffering. And while I hope that Christ would be magnified, I know that He loves me and that He upholds me with His right hand.

Nearly 7 years ago, my oldest brother, Jon, took his own life. It was the most excruciating, gut-wrenching, and heartbreaking thing I have ever experienced the past 17 years I've been alive. I've experienced happiness. I've seen marriage, healing, and salvation. But intertwined with all life's uplifting experiences is the ever-present pain of loss and suffering. I know what pain is. I buried my brother. I have tasted the sting of sorrow.

It may be that you're reading this right now, and you too have experienced a pain like this: the pain of a sudden death. This is a pain that comes so suddenly like a bullet but has buried itself into your heart and life.

Or it may be that you haven't tasted of this type of suffering, but you've experienced the hurt of shame, defeat, or burden. The pain may be so insignificant that it seems like it doesn't exist or so excruciating that it seems like you cannot live.

But whatever you are going through, I want you to know that there is someone who knows what you are feeling at this moment. There is someone who also has felt shame and has tasted the sting of death. He is the High Priest who sympathizes with our weakness. He is Jesus.

He is the Man of Sorrow, scorned and harassed by men, crucified to a cross, and forsaken by His Father. He knows your pain and your weakness. He sees your struggle.

My friend, what's your struggle? What are you suffering with at this very moment?

It may be an external struggle where the weight of responsibilities or work is bearing down on you at this very moment. Did you lose something or someone? A job? A friend? A family member? 

It may be an internal struggle with anxiety, depression, or lack of sleep. What pains, what trials, what burdens are you carrying at this very moment? 

Can I give you some advice? Just breathe. Not to be cliche or anything, but if you're His child, Jesus has you. Feel the arms of the Father surround you. Lay your burdens and your worries at His feet. It may not seem like it now, but God loves you, and He's using that pain in your life at this moment to refine you into His likeness.

Don't let the experience of pain determine your theology, but rather let the truths of God's word feed your thoughts about Him and your experience. Remember, God works all things (both the good and the bad) out for your good and for His glory. 

The pain that you feel at this moment is temporary. Jesus is eternal. He has risen and there is coming a better day when there will be no pain and no suffering. If your only boast is in Jesus and He is your only belief and life and all, you need not fear the grave. You need not weep for those who have gone to meet the Lord.

Find rest. Find satisfaction in Him who loves you, died for you, and pursues you with a passionate love. Take joy, my brethren. Count it all joy. Jesus has you.

Oh my friend, rejoice! Rejoice, because the tears that you shed right now will be wiped away. The shame you feel right now will be undone at the return of our Savior and King. The story not told because a loved one has passed will be finished in Jesus. The sting of the knife of death will be taken out at the end of the age. Death is defeated. Christ has conquered. Suffering is now that which works for us an eternal weight of glory.

Oh friend of mine,

Shadows pass and darkness fades.

Light will rise when comes the day.

Feel no sorrow. Feel no shame.

Only boast in Jesus' name.