God's fair weather friend

Looking back on the process over the years, one of the things I realized more deeply was that walking in trust and dependence on God doesn't mean you won't go through some awful things AND that you're not necessarily given extra protection from bad situations.

Romans 8 has that great passage from the apostle Paul (seen below) where he talks about NOT being separated from the love of God that we have in Christ and he points out that NOTHING will separate us from his love - absolutely NOTHING...

...and yet, his love doesn't separate us from bad things. Paul even lists off a bunch of bad things that will not separate us from God's love BUT that God's love does not separate us from the possibility of those bad things. In fact, he says it's probably the case you'll have bad things.

A LOT of believers live on a razor's edge of trying to know what to think or believe about that. A LOT of unbelievers don't get why they should trust and depend on God if they're not getting anything out of it like protection, wealth, health, etc. Shouldn't Christians be the healthiest and wealthiest people around?

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When I was growing up, we'd heard stories about missionaries and Christians being tortured and even killed for their faith "over there" in other countries. We were warned and encouraged to be strong and know that, IF a day came for us to "die upon a foreign field someday", we needed to be ready.

As time went by, that "call to be ready" shifted a good bit. Missions changed from being a super dangerous thing, like the stories we heard in the 70's and 80's, to being more of a complicated, detailed enterprise where you just needed to develop language skills, get funding, and go do it! Fewer worries!

Along with that came a rise in a worldview that being a good Christian meant that God WOULD protect you, keep you from sickness, pain, help you find a good parking spot, etc. I'm summarizing a great deal and overstating the case a good bit, but you get the idea.

There was a lot of vagueness about all that.  What exactly DOES God do?  What benefit comes from trusting and depending on him?  What do I get in exchange for "going to church", being good, saying prayers, and such?  Am I blessed for good things and cursed when I'm not being good?

Anecdotally, I was never sure what people thought, especially when listening to other ministers or elders or "Joe-member" in the pew. It seemed that people left things intentionally vague so as to avoid awkward conversations or to keep from having to say what they fully believed or experienced.

I remember people talking about God's favor showing up in different ways that would affirm a decision they'd made or an action they'd taken. Fewer comments were made when something bad or not so good went on in the lives of those same people - like radio silence - "let's not talk about that".

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The writer of Hebrews (12:11) does not seem to shy away from the topic at all. They straight up acknowledge that God disciplines, mentors, or coaches those he loves and that process is painful and unpleasant at the time. Some older translation said "punishes" those he loves, if I remember right.

What is the reason for or result of that discipline? A harvest of peace and righteousness, later on. The process is for our good, so that we may share in his holiness. It's not that we are "more saved" or something like that, but it's so that we are changed and the change is beneficial to us.

That's cold. In the middle of suffering or doubt or questions, that is or can be a hard thing to hear. We want a life preserver tossed to us.  We want to be saved FROM the problem not IN our problem. And it's in those moments we can have a lot of clarity about what we believe, think, and want.

God seems to "allow" things like that so we can see whether we want him or the stuff we would like for him to provide for us. We want to know why it can't be both, not either/or. It's never to say that God cannot or doesn't do "good things" or blessings, but the New Testament doesn't show that as a norm.

I'm skipping over the surface of a LOT of questions that people often have or objections they make when this topic comes up. I know, I know - I've been there and often am still there with the same questions or objections. I never want to cause people to lose hope, but I also want them to have hope that is real.

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So what's the point of all that then? For me, it's been coming to that place where it's either knowing God is the point of it all or not. Some key moments for me were the times when I realized I loved God's potential blessings more than I loved him. I was a "fair weather friend" of God.

I watched that unfold in the lives of a lot of fellow believers over the years. Many who were uncertain of where they stood with God and fearful of facing God after this life.  They were often self-admittedly "not close to God" because the idea of knowing God wasn't something they'd been taught or seen.

I believe a LOT of people sit in that spot - wondering what is the point of God, church, the Bible, prayer, etc - IF they're not going to get the goods from God.  I'm that way sometimes for sure!  There are days when I cry out to him with honest, raw, questions, demands, or "petitions".  He's not hurt by our words.

There's also many who live under the idea that God's potentially going to give us good or not curse us depending on how good we've been, what kind of mood he's in, whether or not we've "unlocked" some mode with him, etc - and their main goal is to hope to get into heaven, even if it's little corner closet.

Those are tough places to be. Especially if that was your worldview of God for most of your life. It was for me till about 20 years back and things began to shift around a good bit. I still have moments where I think, "Well maybe God DOES bless me with random things or specific things, if only I'd _____".

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Now, I'm at a place where I know God has already blessed me with all that I need. Already. Done.  All the love.  All the forgiveness.  All the spiritual blessings in the heavenly realms.  My place in heaven is saved, no questions about that, at all - it's all his doing, I'm just receiving what he promised.

New, good things will still come my way in life. I can be and am grateful for them and thank God for them, but I work at NOT living under the expectation that God has to give me something more or different and if he doesn't, I'm not doing enough - that's a worldview that is still going away for me.

Essentially, the big change has been coming to know God as a person, through Jesus, and not working hard at a system to have a "chance" at heaven someday.

And God is a different person or being from that point of view.  If he's the final boss running a religious system to see who'll hustle the most, he's a very different person than the one who became one of us, lived humbly, didn't work at being the biggest influencer of his day, and gave himself for us.

One of my hobbies over the years has been reading the history or biography of different musicians or bands. It's been one of the most amazing things to read the actual life stories of people that we read about in magazines or see on TV, etc. They are often VERY different people than the image we see portrayed by those who want us to buy their magazine, watch their show, etc.

And God is the same way.

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Grace and peace.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

What, then, shall we say in response to those things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one.

Christ Jesus who died - more than that, who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  As it is written, "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither life nor death, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (From Romans 8)