This morning as part of my devotions, I was reading Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest, which I highly recommend if you are not familiar with it. If you don’t have a copy, you can find it here: (http://www.rbc.org/utmost/index.php) just make sure you look up Dec. 2 to get the right one.
Anyway, Chambers was talking about Christian Perfection and a couple of things he said captured my attention. First, he said we often confuse personal holiness with the evidence of God in our lives. We think we have gotten along the road to sanctification, or Christlikeness if we find that God is at work in our lives, or if we find evidence of God’s presence that surprises or even blesses us. But this is a misunderstanding of what God wants from us. God is not after a finished product or some ideal that can be put on display. What God wants from us is a relationship. God wants to love us and wants us to love him. Is that so hard? Unfortunately, sometimes it is.
The second thing he said that struck me was when he said, “If it was God’s will to bruise His own Son (Isaiah 53:10), why shouldn’t He bruise you?” I had to think about that one for a minute. Its true that we expect God to be good to us, that is, we think things should go our way. We want health, wealth (to a degree) and happiness. If we do not get these things, we suppose that somehow God is not being fair with us. After all, we did what he asked, (as well as we could) didn’t we? Shouldn’t we get the reward?
I had a similar conversation with a friend just a few days ago. He wondered why, if God is so good, there is all this pain and suffering in the world. Although, I think he really meant in his own life. This is the classic question of theodicy, perhaps best put by Rabbi Kushner in his classic book, “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.” I was not too impressed with his treatment, since he basically says, “Well, God can’t stop all the evil in this world.” I tend to disagree.
I think the problem with theodicy is that the question stands on shaky ground; on the wrong ground. It makes the assumption that this world and this physical existence is the one that counts. If the Bible is to be believed, Christians of all people should understand that we have not arrived, but we are only on our way.
Years ago, when I was snow skiing, I dislocated my finger when I hit a tree. (Yeah, I know…) Anyway, my finger was literally sticking sideways at a 90-degree angle. It looked horrible. But it didn’t particularly hurt, at least not at the time. So the doctor came in and told me that he would have to put it back in place, and that it was going to hurt. How would it have been if said, “You know, doc, I’d really rather not. Its not so bad, and I would really rather not go through all that pain and suffering.” People would think I was nuts, and perhaps I would be.
The goal is wholeness, whether fixing a finger or a soul. When God comes to us and says, “This is going to hurt,” why are we so reluctant to think he knows what is best? Do we suppose that God would send Jesus to the cross if it were not absolutely necessary? And do we think that God would allow any kind of pain and suffering into our lives, or the lives of our loved ones if it were not absolutely necessary? I don’t think so. So the next time something painful, or even horrible comes your way, you can say, “I don’t know what this is all about, God, but I trust you that it will come out OK, if not in this life, then in the real life which is to come.”
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