Monday, June 6, 2011

What if life never sucked?

I think I have a sort of answer to my question from this post. An answer that works for me.
(Obviously this is over an above the whole theological truth of sin and the fallen world.)

Why does God allow us to go through diffculties and tragedies?   Some of our possible questions:  Why are my parents so strict? Why did my best friend stab me in the back? Why did my loved-one have to die? Why does my life sometimes suck?  Why do people spread rumours about me? Why was I mugged? Why do I have to suffer? Why, why, why? Varying degrees of  "Why is this happening to me?" / "What sort of God are you?" ...... stuff.

It suddenly struck me that when God became man, he could have just had a stunning carefree life - after all he was fully God as well as fully man.  But to be fully man, he had to experience life as a man.

Jesus experienced the discipline of parents, he experienced the death of friends, he experienced a close friend stabbing him in the back, he was the topic of rumours and vicious gossip, there was an attempt to bribe him with power, wealth and status, he had a close friend deny that he even knew him (3 times!), he had brothers who were not particularly stoked with who he was, he was beaten up beyond recognition, insulted, mocked and crucified. Yet, we never hear him asking "Why is this happening to me... what kind of a God are you?"

What we do see is a very intimate relationship between him and God and complete belief that he is not alone.  If it were not for all of these 'real life'  hardships that Jesus endured, how could he possibly identify with us in ours? How could he possibly know how difficult life can be for us? 

If we never endured any hardships - how could we identify with others? How could we empathise and show compassion if we had never experienced any hardship ourselves?

Could it be that we should be more thankful at how our hardships can draw us to God, because in the end it's often these experiences, shared with others in similar positions, that draw them to God too?   

 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble
with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the
sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed,
it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort,
which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.
7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings,
so also you share in our comfort. (2 Cor.1:3-7) 

Maybe this is what it means to 'share in his sufferings?'

Jesus identifies with us through his life experiences. 
                                                                      We can use our life experiences to identify with others.

He will use our toughest times to bring us closer to him and to bring others closer to him.

How amazing is that?

This may not work for you but I hope that next time I am tempted to ask "Why does God allow this?",
that I will ask instead "How can God use this?"

I know - theory is everything. Practical will tell the story.
Then I will rely, as always, on his grace for the day.

4 comments:

  1. I think it is extremely insightful and well written......

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  2. Wise words from a wise lady! Yes...Jesus remains our best friend and makes everything work out for the best in the end.

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  3. The difficult times makes us stronger and when our trust in Him is tested it grows. If life never sucked we would remain spiritual babies for ever.

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  4. Could not agree more!
    Allie
    XX

    ReplyDelete

So, what do you think?

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