Pain Management

I read the following quote in a business book the other day:

Almost everything that is being sold is for either a deep pain or a deep desire.  Having something that removes pain may be more effective than realizing a deep desire.  You need to show people how you can help remove or reduce pain.

At first, my knee-jerk reaction was that this quote was fine for businesses, but had no 'business' in the church.  And yet, the more I thought about it, the more I thought . . .

• In some ways, the gospel is meant to remove pain- mainly, the pain of our temporal and eternal seperation from our Creator.
• In other ways, the gospel is a call to pain, as we 'take up our crosses' and follow Jesus.
• In some ways, the church helps us remove our pain, as we interact and connect with others who are on the same journey as us, and are comforted and supported by them.
• In some ways, the church helps us realize a deep desire, mainly to live a life outside of ourselves, to give our lives away to a cause greater then ourselves.

Maybe the quote wasn't so far off after all  . . .