Love hurts.
Some people say it’s not love that hurts but what we as humans mistake for love that hurts. That is also true, but love still does hurt. Jesus didn’t go to the cross to be beaten, mocked, and murdered because it was the right thing to do, He went because He loves us. Love hurt.
People get angry at God because bad things happen to them, and it is a struggle for Christians to explain to them why this happens. God loves us so much that He couldn’t just let us off easy. Love disciplines, so God punished the human race for disobeying the One who created them.
Proverbs 3:12 says, ” For the LORD reproves him whom He loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.”
Which father is more loving; the one who gives his son whatever he asks for but never teaches, disciplines, or spends time with his son, or the one that instructs his son in the ways of the Lord and how to live life, disciplining him in love and spending every spare moment with him.
The father who gives his son whatever he wants is not as loving as the one that would rather invest his time and wisdom in his son.
Love isn’t love without sacrifice and pain. We get so mad at God that he makes bad things happen to us and those we love but forget that we deserved so much worse. We deserved eternal separation from God, but he sacrificed Himself so those of us who accept Him can be with Him.
The reason we are hurt and God doesn’t just forgive us without us repenting is because He gave us freedom. He wants us to choose Him not because He is making us choose Him but because we choose to do so out of our own free will. We need to be hurt to be healed, because if there is no pain or sacrifice there can be no healing.