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226 August 13th
A Difficult Plan
In his book, Jesus Mean and Wild, Mark Galli tells us something that most Christians would never dare to speak. He starts the book with the following thought: “God loves you and has a difficult plan for your life.” Ouch! Christians don’t like to hear such talk. We believe (or at least want to believe) that once we accepted Jesus into our heart, life was supposed to be nothing but, “smooth sailing,” “peaches and cream,” and a “bed of roses.” The truth is that in real life unexpected storms interrupt smooth sailing; peaches and cream can sour; and all roses have thorns. Wanting an easier life is understandable, but it is inaccurate and incomplete theology.
Such a theology emphasizes the love, peace, kindness, patience, forgiveness of God; but it does not mention the concept of submission or obedience to Him. It doesn’t mention God’s righteous indignation toward man’s inhumanity to man. An inaccurate, incomplete Gospel doesn’t amply emphasize the natural and inevitable suffering and disappointment, which accompany life on earth for all people, including Christians.
Disappointment and suffering are icky words for most of us. We don’t hear many sermons on them and when we do, we flinch. Living in a land of historic and incomprehensible prosperity doesn’t help. It creates a pervasive spirit of expectation in most of us. We expect good things; and by golly, we expect them now. We abhor the idea of suffering; we hate bearing up underneath the strains and stresses of this world. For the life of us, we can’t see any benefit to such hardships. Yet, Jesus and the apostles were acquainted with suffering and the Godly by-products it can create. Disappointment, suffering, death and martyrdom were the norm for Jesus and His followers. They expected such things.
There is no rhyme or reason to the suffering, which accompanies life on earth. We attempt to explain suffering, but our explanations fall short and give little comfort. When in the midst of a major disappointment or moment of suffering, to say that God will use it to make you stronger brings no relief. To say that suffering builds Godly character and supernatural endurance does not assuage your deep pangs of hurt. To tell someone that suffering is good because it makes one a better person sounds ridiculous. Although each of these is true, only God’s voice can bring these truths home to the one who is suffering. To be able to accept disappointment and suffering as normal occurrences requires a degree of spiritual maturity, which takes time.
What are we to do? The first thing is to embrace an attitude of acceptance. We must accept the way things are in this “foreign” land. We need to be adults who can take a “shot” without whining and crying about how painful life is. We need to grow up and accept the imperfections of life on Earth.
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