Forgiveness, not entitlements are the key to recovery from our pain and suffering

Colossians 3:13

13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

After our Sunday school class my wife and I had the privilege of taking our teacher out to lunch. After discovering  that he loves Chinese ( triple smiles from me) we treated him at a nearby restaurant. To protect his identity I won't be posting his name on this blog, but I can tell you that he has been teaching us on the topic of radical Islam in an effort to help us understand what is going on right now in the middle east.

 He has brought scripture to light along with a keen understanding of this Isis movement currently sweeping across Syria and Iraq.  After hearing him tell us about his family whom he enjoys close relationships with  our topic switched to pain and suffering when he asked us if we had any other children besides our 20 year old son.

 Linda shared the story  of our daughter Maria and the surgery she had the summer of 2007 when she died because the Codeine she was prescribed failed to metabolize in her 10 year old body and since her death we learned that kids under 12 should never be prescribed this drug.  

We got on the topic of child deaths in the rest of the world and how only in America do you have this entitlement mentality.  I postulated that in America we have trial lawyers ready to  pounce on any given perceived injustice.  I quickly did a Wikipedia search on trial lawyers later at home.

According to Wikipedia, there were 1,225,452 licensed attorneys in the United States.[2] A 2012 survey conducted by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell determined 58 million consumers in the U.S. sought an attorney in the last year and that 76 percent of consumers used the Internet to search for an attorney.[3]


My wife offered the idea that in America parents have this notion that they are entitled to bring up their children free from pain an suffering.  I quickly added that trial lawyers often advertise on late night television  ( when most people in distress are up) selling their services like snake oil sales people.

So, it seems when we press on toward monetary damages we avoid moving through the healing process of our grief. As my former boss warned, "no amount of money will ever satisfy the loss of your daughter.....remember the story of Judas and what he did to the silver coins when remorse settled in". He knew the consequences because of his extensive expert witness background.

The three of us agreed that the most important thing we can do in our pain and suffering is to call on God and and ask him to  help us in with our pain BECAUSE he knew what we are going through with the suffering of his son Jesus Christ.

Finally, those in the medical profession do not set out asking themselves, "how much evil can I perpetrate today."  Quite the contrary, they enter this profession because they truly want to make a difference in the world by providing the essential services they  need to minimize their pain and suffering.  Unfortunately, we live in a world that is imperfect. One medication is the panacea for one person may not be for another person.

The good news, however, is we have a God who makes all things new again. Simply by relying on the Holy Spirit he will show us through our pain and suffering and bring us out the other side more resilient, emotionally and physically stronger, and with a credible platform that will lead people to the cross.  Charles Stanley, in this video, will help you move from anger to forgiveness.

Forgiveness, not entitlements are the key to recovery.