Epic

God's "Blessings"

I’m convinced that to a great extent we Christians in America today seem to have missed the point in our conversations about God’s blessings.  There are many out there who believe and preach that becoming a Christian means that life will become easier.  They explain to people who are not Christians that “getting saved” is a great idea because it means that your days will be filled with joy and peace and health and financial abundance.  Confusion abounds when people make that decision only to find that they still have bad days.  There are still times when joy can’t be found and peace eludes us.  Sickness still comes; sometimes even devastating sickness.  Christians still lose jobs and have thousand-dollar automobile breakdowns.  And when the new Christian experiences all of these things they wonder what happened to all of God’s “blessings.”

Why does God allow difficulties to continue in the life of a Christian?  I see two reasons in scripture.  The first is illustrated through the story of Job.  Here’s a guy who earnestly loved God.  Yet his whole world came crashing down around him.  He sat around with friends trying to figure out why.  He then lashed out at God because he couldn’t make sense of why such things would happen to a God-lover.  By the time we reach the end of the story we hear Job saying to God, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.”  The difficulties Job faced and the way God brought him through them enabled him to know God experientially rather than simply knowing OF God through what he had heard from others.

The second reason God allows difficulties in our lives is to equip us to bring comfort to others.  Paul explains this in his second letter to the Corinthians; chapter 1, 3-7.  God comforts us in our times of trouble so that we can be better prepared to bring comfort to others who are experiencing the same troubles through which we ourselves have experienced the comforting presence and power of God.

All of this is to show us that the Christian life is meant to be lived out in community.  It is only through doing life together as people who deeply love and care for one another that the cyclical nature of God’s blessings can be experienced in its fullness.  The greatest “blessing” is the intimate presence and care of God in our darkest hour.  And that blessing isn’t meant to simply make life easier.  It’s meant to draw us to deeper places of love for Him and love for one another. 

My Theological Identity

You scored Emergent/Postmodern.  You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well.  No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue.  Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls.  People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them do this.

Emergent/Postmodern		82%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan		79%
Fundamentalist		61%
Neo orthodox		57%
Reformed Evangelical		50%
Roman Catholic		46%
Charismatic/Pentecostal		46%
Classical Liberal		46%
Modern Liberal		29%

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com