Billy Coffey's post about the struggle to come to grips with his daughter’s diabetes is beautiful. His observation that "through suffering we learn not just to love, but to love more," reminded me of a post a friend shared with me about the monstrously unfair world in World of Warcraft. One of the game designers noted, "It’s an unfair world that cries out for heroes. To bring order out of chaos and justice to the downtrodden is the hero's call."
These are interesting responses to the problem of suffering: Injustice and pain allow us to become heroes and love. This prods my mind to ponder Heaven and the New Earth. 'What,' I wonder, 'will we do in a world where injustice is done away with and pain no longer exists?'
We will worship God. We will praise Him for what He has done, certainly, but I wonder if--in eternity--our worship will mature. Rather than being a response to action, will we learn to respond to who God is? Don't we say that our value does not come from our accomplishments? Perhaps, in Heaven, we will finally be able to see the One who simply is a Hero and Love; the One who has saved us and loved us beyond our wildest imaginations.
But the pain and injustice around me snaps me back to the original question: If He loves and saves like that, why not yet? What's He waiting for? Is the pain of this world really here so we have the opportunity to play the hero and learn to love?
Not exclusively, no. Part of the reason is that we are free to be villains. Partly it's that we are broken, in desperate need of a Savior. Another bit is that we simply do not grasp just how much our God loves us, and how free we are in Him.
But I really like the notion that we can love through pain, and become heroes by responding to injustice. Sonlight's Core Packages are filled with stories and accounts of people throughout history who have stood up against injustice and reached out to the hurting world around them in love.
May we, following their example, do the same.
~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester
2 Comments