The Easy Life
Last year I had my high school reunion. (I won’t tell you how many years ago I graduated, but it has been more than 5 and less than 50.)
As I talked with my old friends I found out that some of them have had a very hard life since high school, and there were things that they questioned as to why this happened even though they were trying to follow God. That raises a very good question. If you have not read my testimony there is a link to it on the side.
I was not a Christian when I had my wreck, but in spite of my circumstances events happened in my life that lead me to Christ. Luckily, I was solidly grounded in the Word, and was not swayed by the “name it, claim it” version of Christianity. (Which in my opinion is a greater hindrance to true worship of God than any of the false religions, Mormonism, Islam, Judaism, etc?) In fact you could rightly say that name it, claim it Christianity is a false religion itself. I can hear some of you saying now, “Wait a minute, Steve; are you saying God does not want the best for me?’ NO! That is not what I am saying. God definitely wants the best for you; He proved that on the Cross, but what you think is best may not actually be what is best.
Allow me to use an example to show what I mean. When I was 16 years old I had a car wreck that left me permanently handicapped. After I became a Christian I prayed (I don’t know how many times) that God would heal me because I believed He could (I still know He can). But as I look back on my life since coming to Christ; I can see hundreds of people who have been affected by God’s ability to use this broken, frail body in ways that no one would have ever imagined possible, and He gets all the glory when I do something for Him that others cannot understand. Other people can see that it is only through the power that God gives that I am able to do what I do. God’s intervention in my situation would have done away with the possibility of showing His full power. So even though I thought my miraculous healing was the best thing that could happen, God could see the bigger picture of the lives that would be affected, and the joy that would be made available to me because of my situation. His knowledge is infinitely greater than ours, and there are times when we must bow our heads and say,”Thy will be done.” Some people call that a blind faith, but I think it is more appropriately called a conscience decision to trust God. While we cannot see what the outcome will be we know who is in control, and we are choosing to trust Him rather than be swayed by what we see.
I said all of that to say this there are things that happen in everyone’s life, some of them good and some of them bad, but if we continue to trust God, and lean on Him for strength then “He will work all things together for the good…”(Romans 8:28)
Nowhere in scripture does God promise us an easy life, or a full understanding of everything that happens to us; but the opposite. In one of my favorite verses (John 16:33) Jesus says to His disciples (and us), “I have told you these things that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble, but take heart I have overcome the world.” In my translation of that verse goes like this, You’re going to have wrecks, loved ones are going to die, spouses are going to leave you, but I CAN bring you PEACE AND COMFORT if you will only stay by my side.
Jesus did not promise us an easy life, but He did promise us that He would NEVER leave us! And in the end that is all we need to understand!
The image above from the web can be found at:
Yes, You Can Ministry 
beautifully written; you have blessed me again with your posts