Super heroes who suffer and feel pain

I had mentioned something about pain and Joy the other day and God has had me meditate on this for a while. He is wanting to give me more understanding of His Heart- and that usually means experiencing some suffering and pain. I'm not trying to be melodramatic, it is the Truth.

Today, I imagine the beatings and suffering He took on the day that He was crucified. The physical beating and torture was just scraping the surface. He then took all pain, sin, and darkness and experienced it. All of it. He felt not only my pains, but the pains of this whole world.

Imagine it. The pains of babies who have been left in their cribs for days, the lonely cries of dying men and women in dark corners, the pain of parents who lose their children, miscarraiges, abortion, the pain of loving someone who doesn't love you, hungry children, parents who are in despair because they don't have money to feed their children, hate, greed, too much money, too little money, debt, devastation of homes and cities, poverty, murder, war, death, gluttony, lust, unrealistic expectations, broken bodies that don't work properly, sickness, despair, loss of hope, garbage landfills that children live in, father wounds that pierce the soul, sexual abuse, child abuse, mental abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, words unspoken, the children who have never been touched or held, sadness, and so many tears shed and kept inside.

Jesus, my Savior, took all of this and more. Showing us that He is taking our new Life in Him and bringing Hope to all of this. He gives us Hope for a new world, and a new Kingdom. And not someday down the road, but now. If we believe He did this, He calls us to believe in His Kingdom that reigns in the hearts that His Spirit dwell in. He calls us into action to bring Hope to this dark world. He calls us to find HIM in the least of these.

WE ARE THE ANSWER.

I often get distracted by the things of this world, tempting me to forget the seriousness of this call. There are days when the only people I think of are myself and my family. I tend to forget the rest of my family and those who don't know that my Father is wanting to adopt them or, more than that, He HAS adopted them.

I also forget that He has given me the strength to walk to the painful places, not only in my life, but in lives of others. Maybe I don't always forget....sometimes I am just unwilling. We can't be the answer if we are unwilling.

I remember years back when I was talking with my friend about how Jesus has given us the ability to be like super-heroes. We joked about leaping from building to building, flying, and lighting things on fire with our eyes. But we didn't talk about how hard it is to be a super-hero. Often lonely, not noticed, doing good deeds secretly, etc. Super-heroes go to those in pain, in need, give hope to those who are suffering and hurting.

His Spirit, that is ALL of God, lives in us and gives us love, power, strength, and humility to go to the places of pain to give Hope in our True Super-Hero.

Jesus, help us realize the strength that lives inside of us. Help us to be bold and courageous so that we can bring the Kingdom to those who are hopeless. Thank you for always loving us.