Right.
Isn’t that what scripture says…we are to be thankful to God for all things…good and bad?
Last night, probably for the first time in my life, I actually was thankful to God for the bad things in my life. It was such a strange feeling. I really felt thankful about the bad stuff knowing that God was somehow using all this pain and suffering for a good purpose.
I’ve gotta be truthful (well, I don’t have to be ), usually when I thank God for the bad stuff I really don’t mean it. I do it because we are suppossed to do it. Now, I know that He knows that I don’t mean it, but I figure…what’s the harm in saying it anyway?
But last night it was different.I really meant it. But it came and went so fast it would make your head spin. A flicker, and then it was gone. It was a real comfort to me for that brief moment. A glimpse (maybe) of what trusting God is all about.
Will that real trust in God return to me? I can’t really say. Part of me doesn’t want it to. That would mean that the pain would still be there from my broken life and the broken lives of my family.
Is it wrong to actually want to trade trust in God for a pain free life?
Do you ever have similar contradictions in your walk of faith?
Thanks.
– Steve
Filed under: Theology of the Cross, Trust |
The Old Adam Lives! 
steve,
i have found God to speak loudly about which you write toward the end of 2 corinthians. O how God is at work in such a “backwards” fashion. Paul boasts moreso in his weakness…for there he is convinced God is up to something, because this is the area in which provides the context for His recieving great glory! we would think it the other way ’round. so in the last 3 chapters, watch the sick and twisted kind of way in which Paul would rather boast in his weakness…for there God’s grace is shown…in the hurt, the impossible!
12Co 12:514 On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses.
12Co 12:914 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
12Co 12:1014 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
be encouraged no matter what!
danny
Thanks danny O,
Those are wonderful passages. I think I will read them over and over, and over. Maybe something will stick.
I know He’s at work in all of this (mess). And not just my own mess, but the messes of the world. It truly is hard when you can’t see any progress. But then again, maybe the lack of progress…is progress.
The cross didn’t look much like progress either. Your encouragement is very much appreciated.
Thanks again Danny!
– Steve
Steve,
The cross didn’t look much like progress either.
Exactly. The hardest part about being a Christian is learning to see our walk of faith through the lens of Christ and the cross. Jesus didn’t go about saving the world in a gleeful, clappy manner. He trudged to Calvary tired, whipped, and bleeding profusely. In short, he was battered by sin.
The Christian life is much the same, for we don’t look for temporal escapes to pretend that we’re anything more, or greater, than what we really are. We’re sinners, and if our salvation was won by Christ through such profound conflict we have to expect that as imperfect followers our walk will be similar. This isn’t to say we make suffering a work. We also don’t look for reasons to dwell on the difficulties in life. We do, however, cling to the cross with the knowledge that Jesus died because of sin and we will also die because of sin. Hopefully we can also in this life a little about what it’s like to die to sin, but I suspect there are many more Romans 7 Paul’s roaming around than we would care to admit.
I know, easier said than lived. 🙂
I’m praying for you, brother.
Peace in Christ,
Adam
Adam,
Thanks Adam!
You, and Danny, and some other Brothers and Sisters in Christ have been very encouraging to me. It’s just one of those extra rough periods that everyone goes through now and then.
My wife has been terrific also. You talk about someone that’s got it tough…she has to live with me!
This life is so paradoxical. It truly is an awesome gift and it truly is a painful burden…all in the same day.
It really is easier said than done, but the power of God is in those words of reconciliation. I need to hear them, and I need to hear them often. I appreciate you saying them to me. Thanks for the prayers.
Yours in Christ ,
Steve