We love because He first loved us. 1 John4:19

I have been thinking about the cross, anticipating the celebration of Christ’s victory over death in His resurrection. Since my Olivia was born, I have had this obsession with understanding suffering (you can tell by reading my past blogs).  Every time I try to understand life, grace, forgiveness and Christ, it always boils down to suffering. When I am struggling to understand myself, my husband or my other relationships, it inevitably leads me back to the very beginning. I haven’t read any other book in the bible as much as I have read and re-read Genesis.

When I want to understand why I have control issues as a woman or why my husband seems disconnected it’s all there in the fall of our original parents, Adam and Eve. It was the biggest fail, an epic fall from grace. We were in the full presence of God and that life as we knew it was completely undone. Not to put the blame on Adam and Eve because since then, we have all added to the pile of sin that has become the world around us.

When I read through the fall two things become clear to me, that is, the world is perverted and that it has to be undone. First, the world perverted means the inside out of things, meaning, our world is literally upside down and inside out. Nothing makes sense because nothing is upright! Second, we need someone to fix it. Since we were created by a thoughtful, loving God, and we as His people, spoiled the creation, we are not capable of fixing it. We need a champion! Jesus is that champion and when we add him to the equation it becomes clear that in order to fix the perversion, the opposite of what we expect has to occur. To put bluntly, because the world is upside down, the way to fix it is to do the backward thing! Someone had to take responsibility. God asked His Son. Jesus accepted.

As co-heirs in Christ, when we choose to walk in His light, we choose to walk in love. Love is the answer. His life was the highest display of love. “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

That is the sole definition of God—absolute, makes no sense, head over heels, in love with us! When it comes down to it, love is what remains. It is what saved us and it is what first bore us. It is what inspired our life and it is not gone after death. In fact, love is all that remains once our flesh is in the ground until the day of Christ’s return. Love. He made us from His self out of love, we betrayed Him, and He wins us back through the greatest display of love, dying on the cross.

We are a precious masterpiece to our God. We were created by a mindful, enthusiastic, colorful Master. We are His pinnacle, His crown jewel, His reason for creating all the heavens and the earth. Just like any other Craftsman, his creation is very much connected to him. We are God’s extension of himself. We carry his characteristics in both men and women. All of creation points to His direction and His creation says one thing:  LOVE!

We were made from love and are made to love. Real love, the selfless love found in 1 Corinthians 13:4. That is how we, as co-heirs, help bring the world out of sin, out of suffering. That is what our spirit is, His love poured into us! He calls us to love because He loved us first. That’s the purpose of pain, because Christ did it we have to share in it as well.

Jesus taught us through his life, but most importantly, in his death, that his suffering was for the greater good of all. So in our lives, our sufferings might be for the greater good of someone else. We may not see or understand it but if we look at our pain with a purpose, then we might come to a place of acceptance and truly be able to praise God during our pain.

The connection to love and suffering is like the connection of a mother giving birth; A suffering that is deemed necessary because of love.

I pray that we see suffering as an opportunity for God to be glorified. I pray that we see love as the only truth and the only answer. I pray we see that our pain has a purpose. I pray all of these things,

In Jesus Name, Amen.