Is This REALLY God's Will??? Part 2

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose (Rom 8:28 KJV). 

This is the go to verse for all the people who want to comfort those in distress. Unfortunately in America it has taken on the meaning that all things will work out well: you will get over the sickness, or you will find a better job, or God will send you the right person. Things like these are what we believe the verse to mean. In the end, your life will be in a better worldly condition. But is that what it really means? Is that the context the verse was given? The verse after gives it the meaning it should have:

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren (Rom 8:29 KJV). (emphasis mine)

God's sole purpose in our life is to conform us to the life of Christ. His goal is for us to learn to be like Jesus. He is not primarily concerned about our happiness, but He is more concerned about our holiness. Here then is the question: what does it take for me to be like Christ? What events in my life would mold me into his image? The answer would be different for each person.

Are there other factors to consider? If we refer back to part one of this post, we must consider what role that God, as author of our lives, would have us play. Here again, our perception and desire is to play the main role. We want to be the hero and to gain glory and prominence for ourselves. How do we handle it if our role is diminished to that of a side character? This, then, is my issue. I wanted my life to be smooth and go the way of success and ease. However God has had a different plan.

We didn't bring anything into the world, and we can't take anything out of it. As long as we have food and clothes, we should be satisfied. But people who want to get rich keep falling into temptation. They are trapped by many stupid and harmful desires which drown them in destruction and ruin. Certainly, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people who have set their hearts on getting rich have wandered away from the Christian faith and have caused themselves a lot of grief. (1Tim 6:7-10, God's Word)

When we want more than what has been given to us through God's providence in opportunities and ability to earn, we fight against God's will. Sometimes when faced with this situation, we try to be more "godly." Thinking that trying to live a life we think is righteous would bring us into God's favor and that we would become more affluent. In America, we often equate wealth with righteousness. We see wealth as the blessing of God and think that person must be doing what is right.

If anyone teaches otherwise, and does not consent to wholesome words (those of our Lord Jesus Christ), and to the doctrine according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing. He is sick concerning doubts and arguments, from which comes envy, strife, evil speakings, evil suspicions, meddling, of men whose minds have been corrupted and deprived of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness. Withdraw from such. (1Tim 6:3-5 MKJV) (emphasis mine)

And this brings me to where I want to sum things up. For the last few years I have fought and struggled to find a way to earn more. I wanted to regain my independence financially. I saw my poverty as a curse and not a blessing. But the Apostle Paul plants a verse between the passages I have quoted that is where I need to be:

But godliness with contentment is great gain. (1Tim 6:6 MKJV).

Part of God's work in conforming me to the image of Christ has been to take things from me. My family, my marriage, and my health are all things that have been taken from me at some point in time. I put hope in Romans 8:28 that things would get "better." But now I see that taking these things from me are part of God's process for me. He is teaching me how to live a life that seeks to please Him. He is teaching me how to be godly.

My biggest issue has been with contentment. I have been like the man in verses 7-10 and have pierced myself through with many sorrows seeking that which was not a part of God's plan for me. My needs are taken care of, indeed I still have more than I need. Yet I still do not have my independence. How can I be content? I realize, now, that God is the author of my life. When He is ready for me to regain my independence, I will. I have needed this perspective for a while, and He has supplied even that.

Living a life seeking to please God, and being content with what He has supplied me is peace. If that means I continue to struggle financially and physically, so be it. As I stated in my last post, my greatest desire is to be where God wants me. For now, this is where He wants me, and with that I am content.

Is This REALLY God's Will?? Part 1

I have been reading a book entitled Unfinished by Richard Stearns for a men's group I have recently joined. In the second chapter Stearns discusses and illustrates the Bible or God's plan from the perspective of God being an author and writing our story. Stearns says that an author doesn't create a character without purpose; that each character was created to play a key role. My mind went immediately to the many people who had been sick, lame, or blind for years in the gospels. We see them merely as characters in the Bible, but reality for those people was one of pain and suffering. They struggled to make ends meet, to survive, and to just exist. They subsisted on the handouts of others and trusted in the care of those that loved them. I wonder if they ever questioned whether they were in God's will. I wonder if they ever wished God had a better plan for their daily life.

In John 5 we read of a man who had been lame for 38 years. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke we read the story of a woman who had been hemorrhaging for 12 years, and thus ceremonially unclean to the Jewish faith. In John 9 we read a story of a man born blind and it is this story which I wish to dig into deeper.

As Jesus walked along, he saw a man who had been born blind. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, why was this man born blind? Did he or his parents sin?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned. Instead, he was born blind so that God could show what he can do for him. (John 9:1-3)

After Jesus heals the man, he is taken to the Pharisees and questioned about who did this for him. Later his parents were brought in and they told the Pharisees to ask him since he was of age. Now John Gill's commentary says that a man can speak for himself:

... at the age of thirteen years, if he could produce the signs of puberty: and such an one was allowed a witness in any case, but not under this age; nor if he was arrived to it, if the above signs could not be produced. This man very likely was much older, as may be thought from the whole of his conduct, his pertinent answers, and just reasoning: wherefore his parents direct the Sanhedrin to him for an answer to their third question.

So this man was probably much older than 13 years of age due to his ability to answer the Pharisees. There is no clue to his actual age, but the point is that this man had been blind since birth because it was God's will.

This brings me to my own situation, and the reasoning behind the title to this post. I find my living conditions to be the same as they have been for the last 5 1/2 years, and I am faced with the question, Is this really God's will for me? Am I one of those who will be dependent upon others for my subsistence? Am I one of those who never seem to be able to get off the ground floor of life? As I look back at the history of my life and the financial/employment opportunities that have slipped past me, I must seriously consider this question. As a man, it is frustrating and embarrassing to be in this situation for so long. I can almost hear the speculating whispers that people must be saying.

The issue isn't however, what society thinks of me, but what is God's plan for me. I have been in places in my life where I fought to keep what I had, and regardless of what I did, it was going to be taken away. I felt like a failure. I felt like a loser. I searched for what I could have done better or different, and the bottom line is that nothing I could have done would have changed the outcome. This is what I have come to believe. It seems now, that I am in that spot again. No matter what I try to do, I will remain here in this spot until God is ready to move me. So, how do I get through this time without making things worse by wandering outside of God's will by trying to force an opening that isn't there? How can I deal with the frustration that stalks me every day of my life waiting to pounce on me and drag me down when something frustrates me?

More than anything else in my life, I desire to be in God's will. I only want to be where He wants me. My frustration comes from not believing that my circumstances could be God's will. But if God really is the author of my life, and this is where He wants me, then I can be content.

The Problem with the Church, Continued...

If you read my last post you probably think I hate the Church. Not true. In fact it is the one thing in life I am most passionate about. I long for the Church to be what it is supposed to be: the hands and feet of Christ, the Light of the world, the city set on a hill that cannot be hidden, the bride of Christ, the heirs of salvation, the body of Christ. The Church should be the embodiment of Christ on the Earth. We should be about His business of seeking to save that which was lost. But what I see in the American Church is an organization over run with the culture of its surroundings. We have replaced the life of Christ with the American Dream where we are all happy, rich, and healthy. We have many people professing to be propagators of the gospel who are peddling to the masses the ear ticking message that God is your genie and He is here to make you rich, healthy, and powerful.

What can we do to turn the tide of this false gospel? It starts with me. The Church, like the illustration given in 1 Corinthians 12, is truly like a body. It is a collection of parts made up of individual parts. If one part fails or does not do what it is designed to do the rest suffers. Ever had an injury of any kind? The rest of the body must work harder to make up for the part that isn't working. They must bear the weight of things they weren't designed to do, and you can no longer do what you could do normally. You are hindered in your capabilities. The Church is no different. If we do not teach the Truth, then the actions of the Body suffer. In other words, if we teach that God is here to serve you and make you rich and wealthy, then why would we expect the Church as a body to reach out to those who are poor and needy? If we teach that ALL you have to do is believe in Christ and you will go to Heaven but fail to define what belief means, do people really believe? Will they really go to Heaven? Therefore, it is imperative that I, as a believer, teach the Truth to my family, friends, fellow believers, and to the World at large.

Some of you may say that this sounds dogmatic and rigid. It is. However, I believe that right teaching leads to right belief which leads to right action. This is the bottom line. Any teaching that does not lead to action that is consistent with the Jesus found in the Gospels is wrong. So we are left with the question of how to know what is right behavior? This goes back to my former post. We spend time reading books from people who would be considered personalities/celebrities in the Christian world. They lead large churches, they have financial/academic/professional success and we automatically assume that they are spiritually superior to those we come into contact with each week in our churches. We feel as though they have harnessed some secret to success that we do not have. Herein lies the issue. Rather than living a life bent on being faithful to Christ, we desire a life that leads to what the world considers success. Is this a by-product of wrong teaching?

What then can I do as one person seeking to follow Christ to turn this tide? Nothing but what I am doing already: seeking to follow Christ daily, faithfully. If I do that, then I have done my part. What Christ chooses to do with my faithfulness or lack thereof is His prerogative. This is exemplified in the last chapter of John's gospel. John 21:19-22, "Jesus said this to tell how Peter would die and bring honor to God. Then he said to Peter, 'Follow me!' Peter turned and saw Jesus' favorite disciple following them. He was the same one who had sat next to Jesus at the meal and had asked, 'Lord, who is going to betray you?' When Peter saw that disciple, he asked Jesus, 'Lord, what about him?' Jesus answered, 'What is it to you, if I want him to live until I return? You must follow me.'" Herein is our imperative, our command: Follow Christ.

The Problem with the Church

How do I start this blog post? I try to be entertaining or elegant in using writing strategies to get the reader hooked, but this time I feel that bluntness is the best option. I believe the problem with the Church at large is that we have traded a living, vibrant relationship with God for a cookie cutter love affair with Christian celebrities and worship of them. What do I mean?


Simply this, the churches I have been in rarely interact with the Word of God. Our Sunday school lessons are based on books written about topics found in the Bible from popular, well-known, christian authors/pastors/singers. I heard a radio advertisement for a women's conference with Tim Tebow's mom. Really?? Her only reason for being there is that she is the mother of an infamous football player known as much for his religious posture than his football acumen. We worship Christian music artists in the same way the world worships their singers. We see a church that has a large number in attendance and we try to copy what they do. Why? Because we measure and value success in the same way the world does. This is fundamentally flawed and just plain wrong.
 
Christians are lazy in their love relationship with God, and when we see a church or person have 'success,' we want to copy what they did thinking that is the way to 'success.' Success only comes in having a living relationship with God. Spending time in His Word and with Him in prayer. Whether you get up at 5:30 every morning to pray or spend your whole day talking with Him and looking for opportunities to serve, either way you spend time with Him. Responding to His invitation to work with Him is also a way of getting to know Him. God is always working around us and when we see His work, that is his invitation to join Him. When we respond in faith, we get to know Him better as well as getting to know ourselves and His will for our lives.
 

In essence it isn't that much different at it's core than any other relationship we have. We spend time with those we love and we respond to their invitations to be with them. The one thing we can't get back in life is necessary to learn about Him and to get to know Him, and that one thing is time. Marriage is a great example and is used in the Bible as an illustration of our relationship with God. What do we pledge at a wedding? Many things are pledged but mainly time. It is a promise to live faithfully with another person for the rest of your life. You pledge to them the time remaining in your life. That is what is necessary to get to know God. He demands the first place in our lives. All other relationships come in a far distant second place when compared to our relationship with Him. Our relationship with Jesus Christ should be the priority in our lives.

This is where the difficulty comes into the Church. The fact that we have replaced the study of His Word with the words of another is a symptom that He no longer carries priority in the life of many churches. Success carries the priority and it shows in how the Church treats those outside of it's walls. There are billions of hurting, hungry, lost people in this world and we spend little time, effort, or resources on them. We send people hundreds or thousands of miles away to serve people far away, but seem to refuse to walk across the street and greet our neighbors.

This blog could take a very long time, and may continue, but for now let me say this: To be clear, I want to say I have no problem with Christian books. I have a problem with the study of the Bible being substituted with study of Christian author's books. I have to restrain from laughing in church at times because I sit there and think, "If we would just read the Bible we could see all that this author is telling us for ourselves." We trust the pastor of a mega-church hundreds of miles away but not our friends who see us each and every week at church. This needs to change.