Life is all about God. Too often we think that it is about us. But it is not. It is all about God. Paul said this in a sermon when he spoke to pagan religious leaders in Athens. In describing God, he said, “In him we live and move and exist” (Acts 17:28). We have our life “in God.” Everything we do we do in him, and for him, and because of him, and through him, and in front of him. And most of us would agree with that, at least intellectually, but few of us really live like it. I know I don’t.
This really comes to light when we fail or struggle or suffer. Too often we live like God’s central purpose is to bless us in ways that make our lives easier and more comfortable. When we suffer, God is supposed to be there to take away the pain. When we fail, God is supposed to be there to fix us and make us better so we won’t screw up again. When we struggle with temptation, God is supposed to be there to deliver us and give us victory so we won’t struggle again. When we are treated unjustly, God is supposed to be there to make the situation right or make the other party apologize, so that we get the respect that we are due. That kind of thinking, however, implies that life is more about us than it is about God.
Listen to a quote from Larry Crabb: “Disillusionment with the church, discouragement with our lives, and disappointment in others are all the product of the core disease of the Western culture: we demand the satisfaction of a life that is working well. Suffering is something to relieve. Problems are things to be fixed. Distressing emotions must be replaced with pleasant ones” (The Silence of Adam, p. 170).
I fear that we think of God as helpful, but not necessary. We worship that which is necessary, but we use that which is helpful. And too often we use God more than we worship him. We use him to manage our money better. We use him to get a better sex life with our spouse. We use him to raise our children to be well behaved. We use him to lose weight. (And if you don’t think I’m telling the truth, go to any Christian bookstore and look at the best-selling books. Among them, you’ll find books promising a God-blessed way to get better finances, better sex, better children, and a better body.) Now none of these things are bad in and of themselves. But God is more concerned with the state of our soul than he is with the state of our checkbook or the state of our sex life or . . .
We spend entirely too much energy dealing with our past, trying to overcome the sins that have been committed against us or bemoaning the scars that that past has left us. We focus too much on fixing ourselves, boosting our self-esteem, overcoming our anger, recovering from our shame, getting delivered from our spiritual bondage, and so on. We get too absorbed with things like why that person said that to me, or why I wasn’t included in that group, or what he/she meant by that. We focus too much on removing pain than we do on worshipping God.
God’s goal is not the elimination of suffering or difficulty or pain (at least, not in this life). God’s goal is not the removal of our problems or the problem people in our life. God’s goal is not that we start producing godly behaviors and that we stop carrying out sinful ones. God’s goal is that we love him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30), no matter the sins we commit or the sins committed against us, no matter our struggle with temptation, no matter the pain we experience from living in this fallen world, no matter how righteous we look or how screwed-up we really are. Jesus said it like this: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).
We must be more caught up with finding God in the middle of our pain or difficulty or temptation than we are with getting rid of our pain or difficulty or temptation. Godliness is not a matter of avoiding certain sins or producing certain behaviors or resolving upsetting feelings or living some so-called “victorious” life. Godliness has less to do with emotional stability or spiritual discipline or Biblical knowledge than it does with worshipping God and loving him and seeking him in spite of, and in the midst of, suffering and struggle and difficulty and pain and failure and temptations that never seem to end. Godliness is making more of Jesus than we do anything else.
Ouch! Thanks for the kick in the pants. 🙂 No, seriously. I know your heart is in church planting, but have you ever considered a writing career?