We don’t get to choose the crosses that come to us or when they come. But, we do get to choose our response.
There are 3 responses to the trials and crosses that come to us in our lives.
- Hedonist – The hedonist tries to avoid the pain and discomfort of life and seek pleasure. This tendency lives in each and every one of us.
- Stoic – The stoic seeks to face the pain and confront it using their own resources and will.
- Christian – The Christian looks beyond themselves, to the cross of Jesus Christ. We look to the one who embraced the entire mystery of human suffering. In our suffering, if we look to him, we will obtain a power and strength that is beyond our own human capacities. When we are at our weakest, Jesus is there. Jesus inhabits the suffering of humanity. Wherever the cross is in your life, Jesus is there. The sufferings of this life are places we can encounter the living God.
The hedonist tries to avoid suffering. The stoic confronts human suffering by looking into one’s self, human suffering is to be confronted by looking into one’s self.
Suffering is a place of encounter for the Christian. If you have suffering in your life, if there is a burden that you are carrying, you are not alone. Look into it and fix your eyes on Jesus and experience the presence of God and receive the strength that only he can give you.
