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The Cross and Our Hurts

In the suffering and death of Christ on the cross, we have three loud voices spoken to our hurts.  First, we have a voice that understands what it is to suffer.  He was rejected unfairly.  He was the object of ridicule and whispers behind the back.  He was betrayed.  He suffered an agonizing death.  He identifies with our hurt, and, as those who belong to Him, we identify with His.  Some only want to stop at this, however, and therefore don't find what it takes to heal.  They want to be affirmed, validated (which, depending on the wound, can be understandable) but not to move on and change.  

Second, there is a loud voice that proclaims from the cross, "This was required for YOU."  The cross of Christ is the public indictment of our sinfulness.  We see that we also *cause* hurts, even out of the hurts we've received.  We see that we also transgress against God and neighbor.  We need forgiveness, too.  In this way, the cross exposes our blindness, for a person who is focused only on what was done to them will never see their own sins against God and others and therefore never heal, forgive, and become one who is capable of truly giving themselves away to others.  They remain stuck on how they were spurned, what was and is owed to them, and be riddled with bitterness and self-interest for all their days.  There are few things as destructive as a person who sees themselves primarily as a victim, for they will justify almost any of their behavior. 

And lastly, we hear a voice that rumbles from the darkened sky, beneath the drama of our lives, speaking the words, "All seems dark, but God is involved in the suffering of this world.  He uses suffering to accomplish good.  Even when it appears that God is absent, He is at work.  He has not forgotten you.  He is for you, not against you, even in what happened to you."  It is only a person who trusts that God was not absent in our most horrible hurts, that He was and still is at work, that can settle the narrative in their minds and find the peace to heal.  It is through this that we can release our hurts rather than being defined by that same song on repeat.  We like to believe we are the authors of our story, but we aren't. 

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