The End of Pain

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death.” Revelation 21:4

There is an actual medical condition called chronic pain. People who suffer from chronic pain are in some type of pain nearly all of the time. About 11% of Americans suffer from chronic pain. Another 40 million adults, about 17% of Americans, experience severe pain at some point on a periodic basis. Chronic pain is caused by any number of issues, from life stress, to respiratory ailments, to alcohol or smoking abuse, to exercise and injury.

The reality is that all of us, in one way or another, suffer pain. Maybe not physical pain, but emotional pain, spiritual pain. Pain from our relationships, our bad habits and decisions, our past, even our genetics. Pain in one form or another is a constant reminder of our broken planet, a people who, beginning with Adam, have been living disobediently toward God for millennia.

Revelation 21:4 makes a startling and nearly unbelievable statement about pain when describing what heaven will be like. It says, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain…” Can you even imagine a place with no pain? A place where there are no tears, no sadness. We will not fear death because there will not be any death. We’ll not fear loneliness. Our bodies will not hurt physically, and every relationship will have Christ at its center.

That is what we are promised as Christ-followers. That hope is something we can cling to and claim when we suffer pain. In this life we’re going to have pain. But that pain, whatever its nature or cause, is only temporary. In Christ, one day, we will see the end of pain.

Dear God, thank you for heaven. Thank you that one day, I will no longer suffer pain. Thank you for creating a place for me to spend eternity with you that is so amazing, so wonderful, that words can’t describe it. Help me when I am in pain to remember your promise, to understand that pain is temporary, and give me the strength to bear it, until the day you choose to let me be in a place where there is pain no more. In Jesus' name, amen.