I sometimes wonder if we have fashioned Christianity into something it is not? Have we maybe twisted Christianity into something that Christ did not intend? Have we distorted Christ’s teaching concerning difficult times? Are we reviving the infamous health and wealth gospel of the 80’s and 90’s? Have we created a false expectation in people’s minds that life isn’t tough for Christians? That once you give your life to Christ the storms stop? The difficulties disappear, the bumps get ironed out, suffering is silenced, and every prayer gets answered "yes"?
Former co-host of the "700 Club", Sheila Walsh, once received a letter from a young woman in her mid-twenties who was dying of cancer and struggling with multiple sclerosis. The young woman wrote, "Sometimes I watch your program and I’m helped and sometimes I want to take my shoe off and throw it through the screen." Fascinated by the woman’s honesty, Sheila called her and they became friends.
One day the young woman told Sheila, "One of the things I hate about what you do is you always present people whose marriages get better in ten minutes, people who get healed, and people who have the nice, packaged answers. But what about people like me who are dying and still love God? What about people who take very few steps, but every step leaves a big impression in the snow because it costs every ounce of strength they have left?" The conversation was a defining moment for Sheila. She said, "That woman changed my perspective. Christianity is not this nice "everything’s going to work out okay" attitude. I think one of the greatest gifts we can give is just a dose of reality that life down here is disappointing, that God doesn’t always give us answers, but he does always give us himself." (Leadership Journal- Summer 2002)
Christianity is not a bed of roses.
What an utterly profound thought. That a person could be dying and still love God. That a person could persevere through difficult circumstances and life’s disappointments and unanswered prayers and even unfulfilled expectations, but remain zealous in their Christian faith. That a person could remain in Christ through her suffering and pain, through cancer and multiple sclerosis, while coming to grips with her mortality and do so without growing bitter, losing her way, questioning God’s goodness, or doubting his love. I’m afraid that’s not the kind of Christianity we hear about very often. It's not the kind of Christianity we typically pray our loved ones will live daily. Yet it is the kind of Christianity all of us are called to live!
Jesus left room for a Christianity full of bumps and bruises. He didn’t gloss over the negatives. He didn’t promise that our troubles in this life would vanish. In John 16:33 (NIV) he promises just the opposite. "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
The apostle Paul endured tremendous hardship.
One of the clearest examples of this truth is found in the life of the apostle Paul. Paul clearly loved Christ, was clearly a Christian, and was clearly chosen and blessed by God. Yet despite these things he endured tremendous hardship. In 2 Corinthians 6:4-10 (NIV) we get a brief snapshot of his life. "Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience, and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as imposters; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything."
Paul didn’t have any grand illusions about the Christian life.
Trouble? Yes. Hardship? Yes. Distress? Yes. Torture? Imprisonment? Violence? Fatigue? Hunger? Untrusted? Marginalized? Dying? Sorrows? Poverty? Yes! Christian? Called of God? Blessed? Faithful servant? Believer? Yes!
In 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 (NIV) Paul goes even further in his description. "...I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food. I have been cold and naked...”
In 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 (NIV) he speaks of an additional hardship. "… there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' "
The purpose here is not to minimize our troubles by comparing them to Paul’s. The purpose is for us to gain a whole new perspective on our relationship with Jesus. The purpose is for us to realize that we can have real love for Jesus Christ while continuing to face difficult realities. We can love Jesus while not getting our way with God, while not having our expectations fulfilled, while not having our prayers answered in the way we want them to be, and while not ever having this nicely packaged Christian life devoid of trouble or worry or hardship or pain.
We can speak the truth freely. This life often disappoints us. Much of what Jesus taught concerning difficult times can be clustered around three key ideas.
Jesus gives us perspective.
Think for a moment about all the assumptions we develop about Christ during hard times. How can a good God allow suffering? Therefore, God must be less than good. How could God allow this to happen to me? Because I must have sinned. That’s why. He is punishing me. He is teaching me some lesson. I am being chastened! Why isn’t my circumstance changing? Why is my health failing? Why does my child have this condition? God must be passive and uninvolved. He isn’t anything more than a spectator who is watching from a distance. He doesn’t hear me. Why isn’t God doing for me what he obviously does for others? I guess I am not blessed. Perhaps I am under his curse. Like a cassette player, we keep rewinding and replaying these false assumptions in our minds until we believe them.
Jesus' perspective as outlined in scripture.
Jesus gives us perspective to release us from the tyranny of our ill assumptions. "In this world you will have trouble." Hey! That’s perspective! Matthew 5:45 (NIV) says, "God causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."
Matthew 7:9-11 (NIV) says, "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"
John 9:2 (NIV) tells us, " '...Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' 'Neither this man nor his parents sinned', said Jesus, 'but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.' "
Matthew 6:25 (NIV), Matthew 6:27 (NIV), and Matthew 6:34(NIV) tell us, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
And Jesus said in Matthew 18:20 (NIV), "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
In James 1:5 we are told that if we lack wisdom, we should ask God who gives it freely to those who ask. Jesus has something of great value to say to each of us. He wants to free us from the tyranny of our false assumptions by showing us life from his perspective. Christ’s perspective is instantly accessible to us. We just need to open his book. There is more than meets the eye. Truth isn’t just in the eye of the beholder, it is in the eye of our Savior.Jesus' sayings on difficult times can also be clustered around a second key idea.
Jesus gives us power.
Matthew 19:26 (NIV) says, "Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.' "
2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV) says,"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
Matthew 28:20 (NIV) says, "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
John 16:33 (NIV) reiterates, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
Acts 3:16 (NIV) tells us, "By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see."
Mark 2:10 (NIV) emphasizes, " 'But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...', He said to the paralytic, 'I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.' "
John 11:38-44 (NIV) says, "Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 'Take away the stone', he said. 'But, Lord', said Martha, the sister of the dead man, 'by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.' Then Jesus said, 'Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?' So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, 'Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe you sent me.' When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!' The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, 'Take off the grave clothes and let him go.' "
God exercises his power freely according to his purpose and plans. Sometimes he heals and just takes it all away and frees us from the trouble. "Take up your mat." "Lazarus, come out." Sometimes he uses his power to forgive, but then gives us the power to forgive, and asks us to use it to forgive our enemies in the name of Jesus Christ.
But let me tell you something that is always true of Jesus Christ. His grace is sufficient. His power is perfected in our weakness. He uses our troubled lives and difficult situations to display his greatest and awesome power. He gives us resources beyond ourselves so we can take heart and overcome.
Much of our prayer focuses on God using his power to remove our difficulties. How much better to pray for God to infuse his power in our situation. To pray for him to accomplish something great through our weakness for his glory? Jesus offers us a greater perspective. He offers us greater power. Without his perspective and power we would be crushed. Let me mention a last key idea that Jesus’ sayings on difficult times cluster around.
Jesus gives us promises.
Matthew 11:28 (NIV) tells us, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
John 14:1-2 (NIV) says, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."
John 14:6 (NIV) reassures us that, "I am the way and the truth and the life."
Acts 1:7-8 (NIV) emphasizes, "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
Matthew 16:27 (NIV) says, "For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done."
Matthew 10:22 (NIV) encourages us that, "He who stands firm to the end will be saved."
John 20:29 (NIV) tells us, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
A few months back we had a lunar eclipse. A lunar eclipse takes place when the shadow of the earth is cast over the moon so that the moon cannot be seen. One of my favorite books is called the Eclipse of Heaven. The author warns that heaven is being eclipsed by our preoccupation with this life. We don’t find value in Christianity beyond this life. We think that Christianity is only about improving our marriages, raising our children, being better stewards of our money, praying for health and psychological wholeness, or advancing our purposes in this life.
We can deal with the difficulties in this life if we keep our eyes on heaven.
Heaven is being eclipsed. We are making this life our eternal home. We have lost sight of the eternal, of the kingdom of God, of the new heaven and the new earth, and of our rewards in heaven. Jesus said in John 16:33 (NIV), "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
There is a life beyond this life. A life of promise and hope. A life of total victory over sin and death, disease and suffering. A place where there are no tears and no pain. That place isn’t, nor will it ever be, on earth.
Jesus' purpose will always be to prepare us for eternity, not to prepare us for an earthly dwelling. He gives us perspective. He gives us power. He gives us promise. He gives us all these things not just for now, but to prepare us for eternity!
This is why Paul was able to speak of his hardships with such tremendous joy. This is the unveiling of a great mystery as to why a woman in her mid-twenties, dying of cancer and multiple sclerosis, can be passionately in love with Jesus Christ. She sees beyond now. God’s strength is perfected in her weakness. She has latched on to the promises of Christ.