“I Became a Christian and All My Problems Vanished!”
…ummm, I Don’t Believe You.
In fact, “I don’t believe you” is too mild a statement, but I didn’t want to offend you by writing what I really think about this statement. “I became a Christian, and now I don’t have anymore problems,” let’s just say that a person who says this or believes that it will come true is someone who is either a deceiver or deceived. Some who say it are lying because they think that is what they are supposed to say. Others believe it will come true because they have bought into the lie.
Does the Bible give us assurances that Jesus will walk with us through difficult times? Yes.
Does the Bible promise us that once we become Christians we will no longer have difficult times? Absolutely not.
In fact, Jesus says just the opposite – that trials and difficulties and persecutions will come, and that some of these will come directly as a result of following Him. So to say that becoming a Christian will make life easy is to attack the truthfulness of God’s own words.
Taking up one’s cross daily is difficult.
Engaging in spiritual warfare with the enemy is difficult.
Dealing with real persecution because of faith is difficult.
…great assurances are scriptural and true—praise God, they are!
But it is possible so to stress them, and so to play down the rougher side of the Christian life—the daily chastening, the endless war with sin and Satan, the periodic walk in darkness—as to give the impression that normal Christian living is a perfect bed of roses, a state of affairs in which everything in the garden is lovely all the time, and problems no longer exist—or, if they come, they have only to be taken to the throne of grace, and they will melt away at once.
This is to suggest that the world, the flesh, and the devil will give us no serious trouble once we are Christians; nor will our circumstances and personal relationships ever be a problem to us; nor will we ever be a problem to ourselves. Such suggestions are mischievous, however, because they are false.
Of course, an equally lopsided impression can be given the other way. You can so stress the rough side of the Christian life, and so play down the bright side, as to give the impression that Christian living is for the most part grievous and gloomy—hell on earth, in hope of heaven here-after! No doubt this impression has from time to time been given; no doubt the ministry we are examining here is partly a reaction against it. But it must be said that of these two extremes of error, the first is the worse, just to the extent that false hopes are a greater evil than false fears.
The second error will, in the mercy of God, lead only to the pleasant surprise of finding that Christians have joy as well as sorrow. But the first, which pictures the normal Christian life as trouble-free, is bound to lead sooner or later to bitter disillusionment.
Life is difficult for everyone.
Life with Jesus makes for the best possible situation in this difficult life.
Life with Jesus, even though it brings in new difficulties, allows us to find His strength in the midst of the dark spots.
That is why Paul can say… Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
The Christian life is full of joy because of Jesus. But let us never deceive others by telling them the Christian life is trouble-free, because we never want someone to become disillusioned about Jesus because of us.
(Quotes in today’s post are from Knowing God by J. I. Packer)