I have been reluctant to post anything regardless I’ve had
lots of things I think are worth writing about. I think it’s time I shared this
thought though, because I think I finally have a grasp on it after hearing
today’s sermon at church.
Since moving to Seattle, I have become very aware of one
thing I’ve always known but I’m not sure I really had a grasp on. And that is
this:
I have a good life. Like, a REALLY good one.
No everything is not perfect. And this realization that I have a good life hasn’t
come about just in contrast to all brokenness I see every day (ie: mainly
homelessness) and just how good my life is ‘because it could always be worse.’
One of our first weeks here, the church we were/are attending was finishing up
a series through Philippians, and the pastor walked through one of the most
well known verses in the Bible, Philippians 4:13. “I can do all things through
him who strengthens me.”
This DOES NOT mean things like if I just pray enough and
believe hard enough that I will get that job I wanted. This does not mean if
we pray and believe enough, the cancer will be cured. Or if we pray and believe
enough, we’ll have enough money at the end of the month to pay all the bills. This
isn’t a promise that every outcome is going to be how we want it or that we are
immune to adversity. What this does mean is this: contentness. I will be
content and able to handle it if I get that job or if I don’t. That I can trust
that I am loved by the creator of the entire universe and there is hope that
one day we will live in a world where cancer doesn’t exist, and I will be able
to get through it whether the prognosis is good or bad. That I will be content
with what I have and whether we have enough to pay the bills or not at the end
of the month, we’ll figure it out one way or another.
We live in this world of prosperity gospel, tacky and
unauthentic Christianity where we just have painted smiles on our faces amongst
adversity and brokenness, and it is preached that bad things happen because you
just didn’t ‘believe or want it enough.’ Biblically, we Christians are not
promised that if we just believe enough we will be ‘happy’ (whatever that means
in this messed up world) or have lots of money or everything we ever wanted. Matter
of fact there is no gain from varying levels of faith, just that you have any
is enough to receive all the promises of God. And the God I believe in promises
through out all his text to never abandon us, that he will take all things
(disasters, burdens, trials, temptations, tragedies, you name it) and work them
out so that they can be used for good, and that we someday Jesus is going to
return and all the messiness of the world will be fixed and redeemed and it’s
going to be AWE-SUM. This isn’t to say we can’t have healthy reactions to
burdensome things. Nobody is saying you have to be pumped up and say ‘Gee-dang,
cancer is a bummer!” with a big smile. But it is saying that amongst the grief,
frustration, disappointment, etc., that there is hope and we can rest contently
knowing that we don’t have to have it all figured out, have all the answers, or
fix anything ourselves, because we can handle all things through Him who
strengthens us.
I also realize that this is easy from the position I am
writing from. I have the sweetest, kindness husband whose life goal is to
essentially make sure I have the best life I can. I have a dog and a cat
(animals = happiness to a Maryott girl). I started my dream job (which is going
amazing by the way. Maybe a post about that in the future). We live somewhere
we want to live, not somewhere we HAVE to live. The list goes on.
But just like anybody else, I have plenty I could grumble
about. We are up to our eyeballs in student debt. We are half way through our
twenties and haven’t been able to do a fraction the amount of traveling we’d
like to do while we enjoy our youth because of school/jobs/money. My job is
awesome, but it is a 45 minute commute and I HATE driving. We have a running
list of ‘things’ we want that keeps getting longer, includes a car that was
made in the 21st century. We live in a 600 sq ft apartment, and our
rent I am positive is double, maybe triple most our friends mortgages. Etc. Etc.
But that’s ok! Because not only do I have lots of nice ‘things’
and wonderful relationships with my husband and family and friends… I have a
faith-filled-trust-motivated joy that I can be content when times are good and
bad, because I know that I am immeasurably loved and cared for by Jesus, and
his resurrection guarantees that this life isn’t all that we have to look forward
to. And what else could possibly make you overwhelming content and feel at ease
then whole heartedly knowing that the creator of the universe is fighting for
you and, in times to come, is going to restore all brokenness of this world? So
Christians: whether life is great or terrible right now, I just hope that none
of us will let our circumstances redefine who our God is.
