We Can Hurt Too The Suffering Behind the Christian Mask

Galatians 6: 2 Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

It is another busy Sunday and there we are all in church. Catching up with people we haven't seen in a week, maybe longer. Inevitably the opening question is usually inquiring how each other is doing. Inevitably the answer is usually "blessed!" We continue on our way to greet more people before the service starts and never stop to consider the cold hard reality of our lives is that we are often too scared, self-conscious, or even proud to admit that as Christians, we too can hurt sometimes. How many people say "blessed" behind their Christian mask, only to go home in the same level of pain with which they came in with? We have a tendency to over-spiritualize our answers to everything, further compounding the problem. "All we need is Christ!" That of course is an over-simplification. It is not God's design to place billions of people on His creation we call Earth and have them not interact! In Galatians 6: 2 we actually see the Apostle Paul teach us that if we truly seek to fulfill the law of Christ then we are to carry each other's burdens. Yet far too often, we put on our Christian mask and hide our suffering and pain. Why should this be so?

Fear. We are by nature a fearful people. We are afraid that somehow suffering is a sign of weakness, as if this somehow speaks less of our walk and our relationship with God. We know in our hearts that the joy of the Lord is our strength and somehow turn that into meaning that if we are lacking joy, we must not be close with the Lord. How do we know this is not so? Jesus Himself said so:

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

Note that Jesus completely understood that we would have troubles in this life. Additionally, His assurance does not indicate that because He has overcome the world that you will escape tribulation. Rather, He is showing us the way to overcome the troubles. Ultimately, Jesus is that way. That does not remove the fact that we will be faced with times when our joy is fleeting. It does not however speak to the sincerity or depth of your relationship with God! Consider that Martin Luther once wrote, "For more than a week I was close to the gates of death and hell. I trembled in all my members. Christ was wholly lost." According to Martin Luther's biographer, Roland Bainton, Luther found himself "subject to recurrent periods of exaltation and depression of spirit." Luther himself had written that "the content of the depressions was always the same, the loss of faith that God is good and that he is good to me."

Remember beloved, it is the world that tells us that weakness is a character defect, not Christ. In fact, as usual, God has a completely different perspective on weakness. In Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, he speaks about receiving a thorn in his flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment him. He pleaded with God to take this thorn away three times and God's answer was always the same and reveals how God views our weaknesses:

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2Corinthians 12: 9-10

It is through weakness that God's power rests upon us! It is not His design that we are to walk around in pain; pretending that everything is all right while privately suffering. You are not alone in your pain and God did not intend for you to carry the burden alone. Historic preacher Charles Spurgeon, a key figure in the nineteenth-century revival movement, suffered so severely with depression that he was forced to be absent from his pulpit for two to three months a year. In 1866 he explained to his congregation the struggle: "I am the subject of depressions of spirit so fearful that I hope none of you ever get to such extremes of wretchedness as I go [through]." He further explained that during these depressions, "Every mental and spiritual labor...had to be carried on under protest of spirit." Yet we can struggle daily with our hurt, as Spurgeon did, yet be afraid to express it to anyone. That fear may also be related to how others might view us if we were to admit the truth and that leads to the second main reason why we don't let people see the pain behind the mask.

Pride. Unfortunately, we are also a prideful people by nature. Most if not all sin can be traced back to pride. It is one of the things that God hates. Yet it is so intrinsic to our nature that we need to be constantly mindful of it. The bible is full of teachings against pride such as:

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Romans 12:16

Yet we can allow our pride to put up a wall around our heart. We can convince ourselves that we can live with pain and hurt but not if someone knew about it! We can convince ourselves that it is better to live with a poor decision than to admit we might have been wrong. Pride and fear are intricately connected in this fashion. Our pride feeds our fear and our fear feeds our pride. We can be so consumed with our private pain and our public façade that eventually, we can become ineffective in the kingdom. Ineffective for what God would have us do. That is the design and scheme of the enemy. The enemy is what truly feeds your pride and fear. It is where he lives. By isolating Christians, it is easier for them to fall prey to the whispering the enemy engages us in. Seek God with all your might and seek the help of those He has given you in your life. It is the enemy wants you alone! He knows that if you seek other Christians for help in your pain, then there will be even more prayer, releasing even more power. Within that power and prayer is healing.

We can continue to carry around the guilt and condemnation of a past Christ is willing to take from us. We can continue to walk in the despair of failed relationships or hurtful words. We can continue to walk around wounded, bleeding spiritually and emotionally, but telling all who will listen that we are blessed. And we are blessed. We have the assurance in our salvation that we are separated to God but people often confuse the promise of eternal life as being in the future. Eternal life begins AT salvation. It is most unfortunate but there are far too many Christians who are crawling to the finish line. Living the eternal life with no victory. It is ok to hurt beloved. In the eyes of the world, it may make you weaker but we are no longer to conform to the pattern of thinking the world possesses but rather be transformed through the renewing in our minds (Romans 12: 2). In God's eyes however, it makes you stronger because then His power can be made perfect in your life. You can live the eternal life in the victory God intended for each of us. The world has convinced us that the picture of victory is one of man with his arms raised triumphantly. God's picture however, is one of man bowed low, on his knees, in humility. Take the mask off today.

Anthony Wade July 2, 2008