Most people are hurting

I venture to guess that a good majority of the people you encounter each day is carrying some pain in their lives. It may be a long-term hurt they've never been able to release. It may be a deep-seated concern for a family member or other loved one that never leaves their thoughts. It may come from some choice they have regretted making, and now they are stuck with the consequences of that choice. Perhaps their pain is the result of a recent medical diagnosis or a financial reversal. Maybe it is due to a broken relationship or a betrayal by someone who was supposed to always be there for them. In fact, the causes of the pain people carry within are endless.

Many people do a good job of concealing their pain. We learned how to put on our happy faces to hide our pain from others. We wear our masks to work, to church, to family gatherings and everywhere else we go, but when we come home the masks come off. The pain comes back. When we lay our heads down in the dark and quiet that pain begins to scream in our minds reminding us how much we hurt.

Sometimes that pain causes us to do things we later regret. We snap at loved ones, we fail to show kindness to someone, we react in rage at minor setbacks, we turn away from friends and family, we sabotage our future all because of the pain we feel, the pain we dare not reveal to others. As has often been said, hurting people hurt people, and our pain has caused us to hurt a lot of other people, innocent people who had nothing to do with the pain we feel.

 As Jesus traveled the countryside He frequently encountered hurting people: lepers, a man born blind, a woman caught in the act of adultery, another woman who had gone from man to man seeking something she could not find, persons who had lost a loved one to death, and many others. What did He do when He met such people? He entered into their pain, gave them hope, and brought healing to their pain. As the hands and feet of Jesus we can do no less.

In The Message Jesus tells His disciples in Matthew 10 that they are to "Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously. Don't think you have to put on a fund-raising campaign before you start. You don't need a lot of equipment. You are the equipment...."

This is the work of the church. We are to proclaim that the kingdom is here to people who are confused and hurting. We are to introduce Jesus Christ to a hurting world and minister to people's pain. Just before Jesus spoke the words we read in Matthew 10, in chapter 9 we read that when Jesus saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd.

Greg Laurie says, "If you preach to the hurting you will never lack an audience." I might add that if we seek to minister to the hurting we will find that indeed the fields are white unto harvest. Into those fields we are to take the saving, healing message of Jesus Christ.