Last week we looked at Jesus’ warning that when he returns to the earth, not everyone who’ll welcome him as their lord will be recognised by him.
I suggested that there’s a four-step process to becoming a genuine Christian who’ll be accepted by Jesus: a correct understanding of God’s word leads to faith, faith leads to repentance, repentance leads to change, and finally change leads to good works.
All of those different elements must be present. If any of them is missing then you’ve got work to do.
Perhaps Jesus had something similar in mind when he gave the parable of the wise and foolish builders. Let’s read Matthew 7:24-27: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
Foundations
Your faith needs a foundation. Without one – the right one – it won’t last. It might get you through times when life is relatively easy and comfortable, but it won’t stand up to the storms or floodwaters of life.
When life suddenly becomes painful or frightening, only true faith will survive.
What is that you dread most of all? Perhaps being diagnosed with some really nasty illness or condition. Perhaps losing your job and beginning to struggle financially. Perhaps losing a member of your family or a beloved pet.
How do you respond in those moments? Does your faith have a strong enough foundation for you to continue to trust that God knows best and will always do what’s best? Or do you find yourself growing angry and resentful at God, demanding to know why he let these things happen?
Or what about when things happen in the wider world that don’t make sense in the context of how you understand God?
For example, how can God allow so much suffering in the world? Pandemics, famines, wars…the list goes on. Or how could God allow this or that politician to be elected into power? Or why doesn’t God step in when truly horrific atrocities are carried out?
Is your faith shaken when you see these sorts of things happening in the news? Do you feel as if God is neglecting his responsibility to care for us? Do you start to wonder if maybe the sceptics are right, and that such events suggest there isn’t any God out there at all?
Faith that lasts
It’s not always easy to find answers to these questions, but what I find helpful is to go back to the foundations and ask: what, according to the Bible, did God actually say?
Did God promise that a Christian’s life would always be comfortable or pleasant? No. Jesus did not have an easy life and nor did any of his early followers. You only need to flick through the gospels or the book of Acts to see that. I doubt many if any of us have experienced anything like the stress or difficulty or pain that Jesus or Peter or Paul went through.
Did God promise that he’d always save or deliver us from ill health or poverty or heartbreak or an early death? No. Nowhere are Christians promised that they’ll experience these things any less than anyone else – if anything, the Christian life will in some ways be even tougher than the life of the unbeliever.
Did God promise that he’d intervene to prevent horrific evil or catastrophic natural disasters? No. Jesus even predicted that such things would happen both locally and internationally throughout all of the time between his ascension to heaven and his return.
This might not be easy to accept – and it’s even harder when you’re going through pain or loss – but it’s vital that we understand what God has and hasn’t promised to do. God’s priority is not to ensure that you or I have a happy and carefree existence in this life, or that the world’s suffering is eradicated or even reduced in this life.
However…
Perhaps I should clarify: the answer to those questions above isn’t simply “No” – it’s actually “No – not in this life”.
God’s priority is the next life – the eternal kingdom that Jesus will establish when he returns to the earth. The pain and suffering we go through now is what prepares us to be ready for that day.
Paul wrote to the churches in Rome (Romans 8:18-25): I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Our problem is that we live in a secular age, one in which human beings are placed firmly at the centre of all philosophical or moral considerations. In a human-centred way of thinking, it’s obvious why we’d assume that God’s responsibility is to ensure our safety and comfort, and not just ours but all of humanity’s.
If you’re a Christian, your thinking cannot be human-centred. It must be God-centred. Think of a bicycle wheel – God is the hub and we are the spokes. We’re all connected to him, and connected to each other through him. We can’t be at the centre. Only God can. Take away the wheel hub and the bicycle won’t go anywhere.
So what *has* God promised?
God hasn’t promised comfort and safety in this life – either for you or for humanity as a whole – but why not?
Because he’s got something far, far better in store for those who decide to trust him and commit their lives to him: eternal life.
That’s the foundation your faith needs to be based upon: the promises God has actually made, not the things that you wish he might do or that you feel he ought to do or that modern secular culture assumes he would do if he were real.
It’s normal for you as a human being to focus on this life and the problems you’re facing in this moment right now. Your natural instincts will always lead you to prioritise your and your loved ones’ survival in the moment and pleasure in the immediate future.
To be a true Christian means to look beyond that, to allow God’s promises to override your natural instincts and feelings and cultural assumptions you’ve picked up from those around you.
God is offering you life that will last forever, with no pain or sorrow or loss or illness or injustice or even death, a life that you’ll live in the presence of God.
None of those things can exist in the presence of God. But you can – if you trust God’s promises, if you repent of your sins, and if you live the rest of your life in such a way that demonstrates your trust and repentance are real.
Nihilist to Christian 