Have you ever cut your hand with a knife? I did, and it sucks.

As I was nonchalantly cutting up an avocado in my kitchen, the knife slipped past the seed and into my finger below. In one excruciating moment of blood, pain, and pure adrenaline, I felt like I was about to lose it.

More and more I’m hearing this phrase, “I’m about to lose it.” And I get it. Painful situations as small as cutting my hand with a knife can cause me to buckle under the weight of pure discomfort. So when our chaotic world is shedding new light on the pain around us, it doesn’t surprise me to see many people getting pushed to the edge of losing it.

I’ve heard people say, “It feels like the world is worse today than it was a year ago.” But what if things are not really worse in the world around me? What if the real issue is with my perspective?

Here’s the truth. The world was just as broken a year ago as it is today. I need God to sustain me this week the same amount as I did last year at this time. But last year, things were probably too good to realize it. Now that there’s a pandemic, protests, and murder hornets, it’s easier for me to see the brokenness around me.

Paul tells the Corinthians, “When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things” (1 Corinthians 13:11 NLT).

Part of the process of becoming an adult is that I notice the fallen world around me is a scarier place. I begin to see that things are not as safe as I originally thought. Paul goes on to illustrate this point in the next verse, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity” (1 Corinthians 13:12a NLT). In other words, life often seems unclear and overwhelming because the world is not as it should be.

It’s not just your or me who’s suffering. All of creation is screaming in pain. Paul tells the Romans church, “For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Romans 8:22 NLT).

Of course, a global pandemic plus an election year combined with a 24/7 news cycle makes the world seem crazier, but as a follower of Jesus, I can choose to get caught up in my favorite news channel’s perspective, or I can choose to believe my perspective is flawed and in need of clarity from God. Paul acknowledges the pain we all experience, but he directs our gaze beyond present circumstances to a future hope. He says, “We believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering” (Romans 8:23 NLT). Paul emphasizes that the Spirit provides the help we need.

Our hope isn’t in a COVID cure, although it would be great. Our hope isn’t in a perfect political candidate, although it would help. And our hope isn’t in a stable economy, although it would make us more comfortable. Our hope is in a future kingdom where God will dismiss Satan, sin, and death, and we will live with God. Our hope is in the day “our bodies will be released from sin and suffering.” Paul says, “All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely” (1 Corinthians 13:12b NLT).

When I cut my finger, I didn’t scream or cry. Instead, I instantly passed out. The adrenaline hit me with such a forceful intensity that my body couldn’t react, and I immediately hit the floor.

I pray that as you or I get overwhelmed in this crazy season of life that the Spirit would cause us not to pass out, yell, or lose it. I pray that each of us would bring our pain and suffering to Him so that He can remind us of our future hope- A world without sin, sickness, and death. A life without pain and suffering. And a King who values us so much, He calls us His inheritance.

“I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called- his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.” (Ephesians 1:18 NLT)