No Pain, No Gain
0 comments | Posted by Steven Layson on 29 Nov 2009 in From Steve's Study ::
In 1982, Jane Fonda produced a series of aerobics workout videos where the phrase “No pain, no gain” was central. Those who desired to get fit and trim needed to “feel the burn” if they wanted to make any progress in achieving the “perfect” body.
This, of course, was not a new concept. The first known use of the phrase comes from the beginning of the second century when Rabbi Ben Hei wrote, “According to the pain is the gain.” He was trying to give a spiritual lesson that if there is no pain in doing what God commands, there is no spiritual gain. Similarly, Benjamin Franklin employed the phrase in 1734 when he wrote, “There are no gains, without pains…”
There is a truth in this axiom, as anyone who has started the long road to getting fit will tell you. However, it is not always the one who experiences the gain who has gone through the pain. I have spoken with many people who have gone through many years of hardship and “penny-pinching” so that their children might have the opportunities they never had. Out of love for their children, parents are often prepared to go through all sorts of difficulties.
Today’s passage in Isaiah 53 speaks of this kind of gain. God’s people had turned away from him and had followed other gods. This resulted in the pain of separation from God. However, it was not their suffering that restored their relationship with him. Isaiah talks of another “Servant” who would come: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Is 53:6)
This is really the heart of the gospel. Jesus willingly takes on himself the punishment that should have been ours. We are forgiven because of what he went through on the cross – “by his wounds, we are healed”. It seems incredible, but it gives us a glimpse of the extent of God’s love for us.
Through his pain, there is much gain for us.
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