God owes us . . . nothing

I'm recently discovering (or rediscovering) the fact that God owes us, needs to give us, is obligated to provide . . . well nothing.

What do I mean when I say nothing?

God does not owe us:

1. Life: Here is the reality: we are not promised one more breath, one more heartbeat, one more blink of the eye. We are not promised that our cancer will miraculously (or by science) go away, that we will be saved from car wrecks, that we won't be the one who has that 'freak' accident in the safety of our own home. Just because you believe in God and follow Jesus--or not--does not make you invincible nor exempt from the reality of life, which is that people die a lot.

2. Laughter: No one is promised a 'good life.' It is hard for me, as an American, to get my head around this because I've assumed I am somehow due a good life, but find that in the Bible for me then I'll change my mind. What does this mean for day-to-day life? It means no one is promised good feelings . . . ever. No one is promised that we will laugh when something funny happens, that we will cry for joy, that we will get that job (let alone any job), that we can sing songs, that we will have a spouse and kids, that we will enjoy fine meals, that we can be wowed and refreshed by being outdoors, that anything will go 'right' or the way we wanted and planned, that praying will accomplish anything, that following the rules will get you anywhere, that breaking rules will summon excitement, that following your heart will work out, that following whatever 10-steps will accomplish their aim, that doing what people say will have its hoped for affect, that doing anything will illicit any kind of reaction in your soul. No one is promised anything of the sort.

So now that you're all glum and sporting a frowny-face, what does this mean? It means that when God--yes it is HIM--provides us the capacity and gift of pleasant things and the ability to feel rightly about these gifts.... enjoy the heck out of them. Cry when your baby is born. Laugh when your friend does something stupid. Eat that delicious dessert with happiness. Go celebrate when you get your job. It is SO good to have gifts and we should take them and embrace them . . . as gifts.

And whether we get this or that is not based on our good or bad behavior.

We are promised God. For those who follow him, we are told that we will always have God. We should not say, 'in his presence is fullness of joy so that means we should be happy all the time.' No, joy is not happiness. Joy is not feelings. Joy is a faith-based sense and belief and understanding that though we may never smile one more time, and we may spend the rest of our days in tears of sorrow God is still real, we are still his children, and Heaven will be full of the most explosive happiness and joy and good times we literally cannot fathom it.

Life is hard. Life is unbearable sometimes. Life can be too much. But often it is when we have everything but don't have the feeling we hoped for, it is then that we finally see we need God. Thankfully, for most, God is very kind in his provision and gift giving and occurrences in our life and we should thank him so much! But our belief in God and HIS GOODNESS should not be dependent upon what he provides day in and day out but on what he said and the now-unseen-reality he says is true.

The book of Job points this out and Job got it right when he said that God is truly good when he provides all kinds of great things or provides all of life to cease and die and be ripped away. Naomi was right she told her friends to stop calling her 'pleasant' but to call her 'bitter' because God killed her husband and two sons; she was a broken mess who still had a glimmer of hope in God.

It is crazy to understand that goodness is known in the darkest hour of your soul. That pain can walk beside God's favor. Joy accompanies stomach wrenching agony and confusion and frustration. The reality is that though he seems to not care one bit about you, God is not far off ever and he is always loving his children when it seems like he is ruining them. Love is peculiar and when we figure out what Paul proclaims in Romans 9-11--God does whatever he wants and he is always good in whatever he does because he IS wise and IS loving more than we can understand--we believe a scary and hard truth. Love is different than we think.

It May Cost You Your Neck: Romans 16.3,4

The Apostle Paul authored the New Testament (NT) book of Romans. He wrote this book to those who were gathered as a community to help one another follow Jesus Christ. Many reasons exist as to why Paul wrote this letter, but chiefly he wanted to encourage the people to whom he was writing and to refresh them to the extent that they would, as it were, get wind in their sails and find new vigor to continue following Christ—or remember why they do.

In the final chapter as Paul, in the fashion of his time, was making his shout outs, we come across his words ‘[Prisca and Aquila] risked their necks for my life.’ In the NT book of Acts we are given some accounts of these two helpers of Paul’s but we are not entirely sure as to what Paul is specifically referring to here. We cannot, however, assume that this is some exaggeration by Paul as he embellishes some of his buddy’s work. Paul talks often of his own physical hardships—getting beat up, getting lost at sea, having physical ailments. So I think it is safe to conclude that these two were put or put themselves in legitimate, physical danger.

Why does Paul mention this? I believe he slyly inserts this mainly so we can be reminded of Jesus’ words that all who desire to follow him will have a rough time of it. When one follows Christ it is a joyful, hopeful road, but one with many robbers and murderers lurking. To follow Christ is to invite physical harm. This is not to discourage a Christian but to make him aware of the risks he is taking in making such a stance. It is easy to forget, especially for those living in the US of A, that it is normal for a believer in Christ Jesus to meet hard times—emotionally and physically. And therefore it is easy to forget that the same belief is worth the trouble it incurs.

Treasuring Christ above all else will make you feel that all else is always against you.

A missionary in Iraq during the time of the recent US invasion was killed, not because she was an American but specifically because she was a Christian. She had written a letter to her pastor back in the States only to be opened upon her death; the conclusion contained these words:

‘To obey was my objective
To suffer was expected
His glory, my reward.’