Day 2723 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Hebrews 12:7 NIV

Our faith teaches us to see things differently. In fact, it all but demands that we see things differently. As humans, we’ve learned from the world to see things like pain and struggle as evidence that something’s wrong. We’re taught to avoid anything that hurts, anything that challenges, anything that tries to change us. And over time, we develop this mindset that tells us anything that’s hard is wrong for us. We start believing that our lives should be only comfortable, easy, and peaceful. We go out of our way to avoid anything that is difficult because, well, we just shouldn’t have to go through that!

These days there's even this false idea going around that is teaching people that a life of faith in Christ is one of prosperity, comfort, ease, and this immunity to suffering. I've literally even heard about groups who teach that if something is wrong in your life, such as illness or injury, then it's because your faith isn't strong enough. Because God would never allow His faithful children to suffer. Right?

Wrong!

When we approach faith like an escape from our worldly woes, then we're simply choosing to believe in something as a means to personal gain. We’re looking for a way to avoid anything challenging or painful. We're using Christ as some kind of supernatural doctor who makes us immune to suffering. We're treating prayer like a prescription that we only take when we need something or want something. We're looking to God to serve as a metaphorical genie who is simply there to grant our wishes and ensure that we never suffer harm or want or any kind of discomfort whatsoever.

In all honesty, if all we want out of our faith is an easy life then we should be absolutely ashamed of ourselves. If we can look at the cross and still come up with a few extra things we would like God to do for us then we're pathetic! If we can think about what Christ endured on our behalf and still find things that aren't good enough in our lives, well, I don't really know what to say. If His blood isn't enough then we'll never find happiness or peace or fulfillment or hope in anything anywhere.

Friends, as we've been discussing for a few days now, our lives aren't meant to become suddenly easier or more comfortable because we start calling ourselves Christians. Our faith doesn't make us immune to struggle or strife. If anything, our faith brings more hardship into our lives through constant repentance and seeking humility and facing persecution and choosing to die to self over, and over, and over, and over, and over.

I reckon what I don't understand about this false gospel that so many are lauding is that if Christ was beaten, bruised, humiliated, scourged, stripped, crucified, then who are we to expect that we simply get to float through life without ever having a bad day? Who are we to assume that His death set us free from feeling any kind of pain or misery? Who are we to assume that He will continue to take away everything hard, or scary, or confusing, or painful just because we don't think we should have to go through it?

There's this gross lack of understanding what it is that our lives in Christ are meant to be. And if it's not addressed and fixed then I'm afraid it will result in countless people thinking they're living in faith who in reality are only living a lie built to make them comfortable. If Jesus is nothing more than a get-out-of-jail-free card for us to play whenever life gets a little hairy then I think it's safe to say that our faith is built upon that lie that God just makes everything easy and simple for His children. It's built on this common idea that God loves us so much that He would never want to see us suffer anything that we might consider unfortunate or uncomfortable.

Got news for you guys, God's love isn't this worldly nonsensical version of love that is only concerned about our happiness and comfort and making sure our feelings never get hurt and that we never have to do anything hard. God's love is what we used to call tough love. It's a love that wants what's best for someone else. It's a love that is willing to hurt your feelings if it makes you stronger. It's a love that will correct and rebuke whenever someone does something wrong because we have to learn from our mistakes so that we don't repeat them.

This world has gotten so soft that anything trying or painful or difficult or scary is viewed as something to be avoided. What if the hard and scary things that we choose to flee from are blessings from God meant to make us better? What if those hard days that we dread are there to lead us closer to Him? What if that season of loss and pain is there to help you realize just how badly you need God every single day of your life? What if He takes things away because He knows that we'll only be distracted by them? What if He removes people from our lives so they don't lead us away from Him?

What if God's discipline is there to help us realize that He loves us far too much to leave us where we are?

Sadly, I think that's something that's being lost in our modern religion. We're losing the fear of God. We're losing respect of His ways. We're losing a willingness to trust Him when He says no. We're losing the humility that allows us to see that our preferences and desires are always going to be largely based on what makes us comfortable, but that what makes us comfortable rarely if ever makes us better. We're losing the ability to realize that our Father is treating us like His children, and that we used to respect our parents for disciplining us because we became better people because of it.

Friends, as the next verse in Hebrews tells us, if we're not disciplined, if we don't go through anything hard, if our lives are nothing but ease and comfort and nothing is ever challenging, then we should be scared. That’s because God disciplines those He loves, as any good parent does. And so if He isn't leading us through things that refine us, prune us, challenge us, and change us then that means one of two things: Either He has given up on us and forsaken us and stopped loving us (which is not possible), or we have given up looking to Him and forsaken His ways and stopped living in fear of His authority.

We would all much prefer a life that's only easy and peaceful and that lacks all struggle and strife. But a life without those things is a life that is also without God. We need to get back to being able to appreciate the fact that God leads us to situations that we can't handle. We need to get back to being thankful for the times when we're afraid and uncertain. We need to find joy in life's challenges because their presence proves that God is still working in our lives to make us better, stronger, and most importantly, more faithful.

We've talked a lot over the past several days about the trials and persecution and discomfort that we'll face in our lives faithfully following Christ and submitting to His perfect will for us. Many things won't make sense. At times we'll be afraid. We're going to feel pain that comes from both outside as the world hates us and from inside as we learn to abhor the pitiful condition that we're in as sinners. We're going to lose friends. We're going to go through changes. We're going to feel growing pains nearly every step of this journey called faith. And we shouldn't want it any other way!

We should be unspeakably grateful for every one of life’s hardships because each one is a gift. God's discipline is a gift. It's proof that He still sees what we can become and that He's willing to do whatever necessary to get us there. His rebuke and correction aren't there to make us feel bad or to humiliate us, they're there to strengthen our resolve, deepen our faith, and build us up into the warriors we need to be for what lies ahead of us. We can all appreciate the easy days in life because we can handle them on our own. But we should have more appreciation for the things that we can't control, that we can't figure out, that we can't handle by ourselves.

Because it's those times when life has driven us to our knees that we finally reach the place we need to be.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold