Pleasure and Pain

Boy, I thought this blogging thing would be easy.  I thought once I week I would just sit down and God would give me something earth shattering to say and the world would be a better place.  It's not as easy as I thought.  This is going to end up being a blog that I write in when something hits me and it could be days or it could be weeks.
Anyway, it seems that lately I have been hearing about Pleasure/Pain comparisons.  While camping out it came up a few times.  The Pain of being out in the cold, the Pleasure of getting by the fire.  The Pain of having to hold it in, the Pleasure of relief!
Last night while reading "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis I heard it once more as Uncle Screwtape writes to his nephew:

The characteristic of Pains and Pleasures is that they are unmistakably real, and therefore, as far as they go, give the man who feels them a touchstone of reality.

Pleasure and pain allow us to know we are human beings, to know that we are real.  Pleasure and pain shake us back to our reality.   Uncle Screwtape didn't want his Nephew's project to feel either as it would awaken him from his numbness.  This would perhaps awaken him more to God or as Screwtape says "The Enemy"


Next is a bible reading that has always amazed me, the first time I read it I read it again...and again:

Acts 5:40-42 After recalling the apostles, they had them flogged, ordered them to stop speaking in the name of Jesus, and dismissed them. So they left the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name. And all day long, both at the temple and in their homes, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the Messiah, Jesus.

They were flogged and they actually received Pleasure in the Pain of the flogging!  Pleasure to have been able to suffer for the sake of Jesus Christ.  It made me wonder how many times I have avoided even bringing up Jesus name because I felt it would embarrass me?  They were flogged and went away rejoicing!

Then next reading brings us the ultimate in pain and sacrifice that also brings the ultimate in pleasure:

Acts 7:54-60 When they heard this, they were infuriated, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, filled with the holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
But they cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears, and rushed upon him together. They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him. The witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them”; and when he said this, he fell asleep.

This example shows the extreme ability to suffer for Jesus Christ.  Martyrdom. Stephen suffered horrible pain and suffering as he was stoned but then Saint Stephen experienced the ultimate pleasure of Heaven.


I'm hoping this thought process will make me more tolerant of pain and suffering.  It will take a while for me to turn it to pleasure.


My prayer is that if pain can bring us closer to Christ than may He allow us to see more clearly how that happens.  May our pain awaken us back to the reality, the reality that evil is real and so is Heaven.  If we can see how the pain brings us closer to Christ and his Passion than how could it not bring anyone with that knowledge pleasure?