No Laughing Matter

-
Are you one of those who believes that “pain is gain?”
At Massachusetts General Hospital, in October, 1846, Dr. William Morton employed ether for a surgical amputation and the science of anesthesiology officially began. Painless surgery quickly became the norm that it is today.
Actually, itinerant performers had been using nitrous oxide for years as a party gag. In 1842, Dr. Crawford Long of Jefferson, Georgia, attended an “ether party.” He was very mystified at how participants stumbled around laughing, yet feeling no pain. Crawford convinced a friend to try it for the removal of a tumor. The procedure was a success, but Crawford didn’t publish his findings ahead of Morton, thus losing the credit.
Today there are more sophisticated anesthetic methods to eliminate the pain. But when it comes to emotional pain, there’s no relief. In fact, suffering that is incurred as the result of following Christ is essential. God inspired: “If you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God” (1 Pet. 2:20 niv). God’s Son, Jesus Christ, endured enormous pain to pave our way back to God. We should be willing to do no less.
Remember: Christian wanna-bees should know this: “no pain, no reign.”
Reflections

Popular posts from this blog

The Spiritual Skeleton

-
An old fable tells of a man cursed with the power of seeing other human beings, not in the beauty of flesh and blood, but as skeletons gaunt and grisly. Some saints seem to have taken upon themselves this curse. Do you feel that you are the only one who is right with the Lord—that everybody else is a spiritual skeleton because he is not of the same denominational stripe or has not the same scruples of conscience as you? Take him or her into your circle of believers as Paul did, as long as they are calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Read more

Can’t Dispute Facts

-
What does the criticism of others do to our inner self? Take the case of Col. George Washington Goethals. While contending with the manifold problems of geography and climate in the building of the Panama Canal, he had to endure the carping criticism of countless busybodies back home who freely predicted he would never complete his task. But he pressed steadily forward in his work and said nothing. “Aren’t you going to answer your critics?” a subordinate inquired. “In time,” Goethals replied. “How?” The great engineer smiled. “With the canal,” he said.
Read more