Way of the Cross: Overcoming Painful Experiences Through The Cross
When going through hard experiences, we often wonder how we're ever going to get through. Whether it's experiencing a loss of a loved one, a career failure or a tragic incident, painful experiences can be difficult or even seemingly impossible to get over.
Think of a painful experience that you went through in the past. What was it that brought you through? Yes will power helps, the love and support of loved ones does great good and time does allow for some level of healing. But it's hard to deny that all three things even when amply provided still fall short to provide us with complete and full healing.
The Bible provides us with the best solution to overcoming the trauma of painful experiences. Our answer is found on Calvary- a cross carrying a sinless man who took our pain and gave us His life.
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Isaiah 53:5 says this: "But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray."
It's tough, even at one point absurd, to think that an event in history can echo across millennia bringing healing to the whole world, but that's exactly what happened. How does the cross allow God's healing to penetrate into the hurts of the heart?
The gospel heals us by giving the Holy Spirit access to work in our hearts. When we surrender to Christ and put our faith in the cross, the Holy Spirit is given a bridge into our very being, exposing us to the regenerative and restoring work of God's presence. Just as the Holy Spirit allows for the resurrection of our dead spirits, He can also bring life back into our dead souls.
Moreover, we also experience healing through the cross of Christ because it reveals to us the love of the father. John 3:16 tells us, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." We have eternal life in heaven and even here on earth primarily through the love of the Father displayed through Christ. The work on the cross points us to the love of the Father that drives out all fear. (1 John 4:18)
The devil's plan to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10) is overcome by Christ's desire to give life more abundantly not just for the spirit or the natural body, but also the broken soul. We all know what it's like to have our souls maimed and murdered by the painful experiences of the world, but in the midst of deepest pain, Christ shows to be all sufficient in bringing his healing upon us all.
