In Truth

Heb.2:¹⁸ “Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.”

Jesus can help you through Friday because He has gone through Friday. Honestly, I wish I could tell you that there will be no Fridays, no days of pain. But I cannot because it not scriptural. But I can prepare you because of the example of Jesus (1 Pet.2:21). Friday is coming, so what do you do? The first thing you do in your days of pain is to reach out to friends. “Jesus took his disciples with him to Gethsemane and said, ‘Stay here with me while I pray.’  Then he took Peter, James, and John a little further.  He was filled with anguish and deep distress, and he said to them, ‘My heart is so overwhelmed and crushed with sorrow that I feel like I’m dying. Just sit here and watch with me.’ Then Jesus took a few more steps, fell to the ground and prayed…” (Matt.26:36-39, paraphrased). If Jesus needed His friends, you need your friends.

If Jesus needed people around Him when He was going through pain, you need people around you. But what do we do? We do the exact opposite. When we are going through pain, we shut the door, we close ourselves in. We throw a party and invite only three people – me, myself and I because ‘nobody knows the troubles I have seen.’ The truth is, you are not designed to face and carry your pain alone. God commands us to bear one another’s burden (Gal.6:2). I am commanded to bear your burden. Guess what? You are also commanded to bear my burden, that is how it is. It is a mistake for you to try to handle pain alone, it is a huge mistake!

Jesus, the Son of the Living God said to the disciples, ‘My heart is so overwhelmed and crushed” Jesus was brutally honest and authentic. But when someone asks you how you are doing? You say fine even though you are not fine. You are fine only if you are. Jesus was the first person to say, “I don die o” (Nigerian pidgin English). I do not get why we tell people not to be honest with how they feel. Why do we tell people to suppress what they feel? Why do we tell people not to be authentic? Someone says, ‘this thing is killing me’ and we say, ‘confess positive, don’t say it is killing you, say you are killing it’. I am not against confessing positive, the Bible says, “Let the weak say I am strong”. So positive confessions are scriptural. But at the point of pain, you should have people, a hand full of people, that you can be vulnerable and honest with just like Jesus was with His disciples. My question to you is, have you been honest with someone about your pain?

Prayer: Father, I thank You for the gift of people. Please show me the right people to share my pain with and grace me to bear other people’s burdens too, in Jesus Name. Amen!