When in pain, all my attention is drawn solely to one person – me! Pain does not naturally produce in me an others mindset, even concerning my husband and children. Pain makes me intensely self-focused. This reality is the reason my favorite conversion story in the New Testament is the salvation of the criminal on the cross (Luke 23:39-43).

While in total agony – physically, mentally, and emotionally – Jesus was focused on who? His closest neighbor. And what a neighbor! The guy had literally been insulting him minutes earlier. (Mark 15:32) The last thing I want to do while in pain is show kindness to a person who is being the least bit insensitive to me. Jesus, on the other hand, wanted to spend forever with such a neighbor…and is.

While the majority of us will never come close to enduring the level of pain placed on Christ, we will without a doubt experience heaps of pain in this scary, terrible, horrible world. Like Christ, our focus needs to be on our calling, which broadly speaking is found in I Peter 4:19, “So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.”

Commit and continue is our two part calling.

But, how in the world is continuing to do good even remotely possible when suffering? Let’s direct our attention to what Jesus purposely spent hours doing just prior to this last pre-resurrection conversion: Matthew 26:36-46. Could prayer be our source of strength to fulfill our calling too?

In all the pain we encounter, let’s continue to do good, recognizing that God is ceaselessly at work advancing the gospel and sanctifying other Christians through our labor and circumstances. (Philippians 1:12-26) Let’s strive to be like Jesus to our dying breath. As usual, I publish these realities not having yet arrived but better understanding where I need to head.

In our pain, are we focusing on our calling?