When things go wrong

What are things that have gone wrong in your life that you hold against God and may still have a grudge against Him about?

Before reading the article below, take some time to reflect and list out ¹losses you may have experienced or are experiencing. 

Is it a...

*Failed (or failing) Marriage
*Family unit shattered because of divorce
*Business loss or failure

*Betrayal by someone you trusted

*Premature or unexpected death of a loved one or close friend
*Decline in health (life-threatening sickness, hearing or memory loss, aging, or overall physical decline)

*Anything not listed that applies to you

Often when it looks like things are not working, but breaking down and going wrong, God is still doing good things, often the biggest and best things. 

How is that possible? It sounds backwards. What is it about pain or loss that is actually good or even best? Is it improved circumstances like Joseph experienced below?

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. ” - Gen 50:20 ESV

https://bible.com/bible/59/gen.50.20.ESV

Sometimes God is bringing about a miraculous outcome circumstantially (like Joseph) after a period of suffering. But not always or automatically. When bad things happen and go wrong, and we experience the opposite of Joseph's experience - i.e., circumstances not getting better - how is this best? After all, we are told that all things work together for good for those who love God. 

As a teenager, Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers (betrayal). Then he wound up in jail through no fault of His own and was forgotten more than once, but eventually was appointed to the second-in-command of the greatest nation in the world at that time. 

The problem with the Joseph story, however (or rather how it is sometimes interpreted) is that many incorrectly assume the good that Joseph was referring to above is only better circumstances because that is what happened to him. We limit the good only to positive circumstances, e.g., Joseph being in a position of great power and influence to keep many from starving. When we do, we will miss the ultimate good God is always doing when circumstances do not improve. 

Our ultimate good is our increased union with God through the suffering we go through and our partaking more deeply in His love as a result. Why? So our relationship with Him deepens, and our experience of His love increases. And also so we can be more effective for Him and become a greater means by which others are drawn to Him.

Our greatest need is not always having our circumstances "fixed" but rather a greater union and relationship with God Himself and our partaking of and participation in His infinite love more fully i.e. it is more important to experience more of God in His infinite love than to experience improved circumstances.

Some of us may never experience improved circumstances from the trials of life. But all of us will experience a greater union and a stronger relationship and connection with God when we trust him through our struggles and pain.

For this reason we can always be grateful for all our struggles, no matter what the outcome or form they take - i.e., improved circumstances or not - or what causes them to occur - i.e., my poor choices or another's. Because, when we trust God, they become the means of drawing us closer to Him and our entering more fully into His love. For this, we all can (and should) be grateful. Otherwise, we will be defeated and risk becoming angry and bitter and miss the primary good He seeks to bring about in and through us.

• How do we advance in pain? Click here
• How do we discover God's love in our pain? click here
• For a further discussion on the primary role of pain, click here
• For a further discussion of how God uses evil for our good, click here...and here.
• The greater the evil, the greater the opportunity for healing/grace; click here.
• For a discussion on the key lesson from the book of Job, click here.
• For a discussion on the value of paradox, click here.
• For a discussion on the necessity of humility, click here

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Footnotes:

¹When you contemplate any losses you have experienced or are currently going through, what do you feel? Desperation, sadness, anger, humility? If anger, you have yet to fully trust God. Ask Him to reveal His love to you, so you can let go of it and allow His love to flow again. 

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 

As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:35-39 ESV

https://bible.com/bible/59/rom.8.35-39.ESV

Doing vs Being

Doing is binding and enslaving. Being is freeing. If a positive sense of who we are (our identity) is based on what we do, we will never achieve enough to gain the long-term sense of well-being (value, worth, love) that we need and were designed for.

We need perfect and infinite love because, as bearers of God's image, we were designed to be loved perfectly and infinitely, by the perfect, infinite God of love. We can never secure this for (or by) ourselves because we will never live perfectly enough to earn His approval and love. Nor does any other creature offer this kind of love. To seek perfect infinite love from finite persons or things doesn't work and will ultimately disappoint us. So we ¹should not seek it from them, for only the Creator loves us in this way.

The good news is we don't have to, because Christ did this for us. As His infinitely cherished children, we are called to simply abide, dwell, or live in His perfect love. Only as we abide in God's love, perfectly secured for us by Christ, do we become loving. The more we abide in His perfect love (by faith), the more loving we become.

What is the nature of being or abiding? It is believing and receiving (claiming) the offer of a perfect standing with and before God, earned for us by Christ's efforts, not ours.

Being (abiding) in His love leads to doing. Doing can never lead to being; i.e., being loving never leads to being fully loved. Being fully loved leads to being loving. "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit (gets much done), for apart from me you can do nothing... As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love" i.e. claim this reality (truth) and own it - Jesus speaking to his disciples at the last supper. John 15:4-6,9

Where the confusion comes in is that faithful obedience (i.e., doing) does result in - is the fruit of - our experiencing God's love more fully. But this is on our side of the relationship. Our doing - obedience - does not cause God to love us more. His love for us is no greater or less because of what we do (or don't do), simply because it's based on who we are as a bearer of God's image and poured out on us because of what Christ did for us by bearing our condemnation and removing it from us and also assigning His righteous life to us as if we lived it.

Because we are in Christ, the Father's love is fixed and fully (perfectly and permanently) set upon us, and poured out in our hearts by His Spirit as we trust Him in all His love. It never stops or subsides. Own this! Stand on it! Abide in it!

This is not only for our sake but for Christ's as well. For God to love us in this way honors Christ and the infinite pain He submitted to in order to reconcile and unite us to His Father. Live - dwell, abide - in this reality.

For a further discussion, click here

For a discussion on bearing much fruit, click here For a discussion on acting before being, click here

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Footnotes:

¹this does not mean that God cannot demonstrate His love to us through another creature or by His creation. These are some main ways He does so. However, we must recognize that others are the means by which He loves us. So indirectly, it is still God's love we experience through these.

No one can love the way God loves (sacrificially and totally other-focused) until they are loved by God first. They are loving only because of His love. They become more loving as they abide more in His love.

Exposing our distrust

Jesus seeks to root out distrust from our heart. How? By exposing it and showing us where we don't trust Him.

But this is a painful process. Why would He do this and allow us to go through the pain of seeing our flaws and failures? Doesn't He love us?

God is not trying to make us feel bad, shame us, or condemn us for not being faithful and loving Him more - i.e. according or equal to His loveliness. He is seeking to get us to abandon our distrust of Him so we will experience Him even more in all His love. Our distrust clouds our ability to see Him clearly and enter into His infinite love more fully.

He is not exposing us because he's mad or upset with us; just the opposite. It is so we will draw nearer to him to experience more of Him.

God's love is already perfectly set upon us and determined by Christ's faithfulness, not ours. But experiencing His love more fully depends on us and how faithfully we pursue Him.

Peter denying Christ three times and then Christ engaging him afterward to feed His sheep is a classic example of this process of exposing our distrust of God, so we might follow Him more faithfully. It helps us to more clearly see how much we need Him and how dependent we are on Him to be more faithful.

For a discussion on how we must first see God's love to acknowledge our unfaithfulness, click here

Is "tribalism" ok or racist?

We are most comfortable with those who are most like us. 

Why?

Because we are more affirmed and feel safer (more comfortable) around those like us. It is common ("natural or normal") for everyone to feel this way. It is not unique to any one group - white, black, brown, yellow, etc. 

Why?

It takes a lot more self-denial and sacrifice to relate to those who do not have the same values and interests as we do. If we have any interaction with others we have nothing in common with, or who are at least like us, our focus and energy must be on them, not on our interests and needs. ¹This kind of interaction is more about giving than getting. It requires less effort and sacrifice to interact with those most like us.

For the above reasons, being with those most like us tends to energize us. Being with those least like us tends to drain us. If we are not full of love, loving others different from us is impossible to maintain ⁷long-term. 

For the same reasons, harmony is more pleasant and enjoyable than disharmony. We are naturally drawn to harmony. Harmonious relationships tend to energize us. They affirm and reinforce our interests. Those that drain us tend to be challenging and involve more conflict.

There is also a practical benefit of working with those who are most like us. When we are in a joint effort, uniformity can result in greater cooperation and efficiency. This is good, not bad.

Some accuse others of racism for having these sentiments and being naturally drawn to those most like themselves. Yet, if we are honest, this is common with all groups. 

Is this ⁵racist? If so, every last one of us - regardless of our ethnicity - is a racist. Hanging out with others for the above reasons is common to everyone. 

Some call this ²tribalism. But is tribalism racism? It is no different from when you and I prefer being with loving friends or family ("our tribe") rather than with a group of strangers.

Having ³these sentiments is common in all relationships and "groups." The very act of accusing someone else of being guilty of this - as if they aren't themselves "guilty" - is exercising this very attitude by the accusation.  

This is why a loving family is so valuable (if we are blessed enough to have one). A healthy, loving family is a place where we are best known for both our strengths and flaws, and still most accepted and embraced. It is usually where we feel most free to be our real selves, with the least concern about ridicule or rejection (though certainly not always the case).

Racism, on the other hand, is very different. It is an attitude of superiority based on one's ethnicity (group/"tribe"). It is believing we - our "group" - are better, ⁶objectively, more important or valuable than others. This may be true subjectively - i.e., more valuable to us - but not objectively.

But isn't this also true of friendships? No one considers having friends racist. Good friends are good, important, and valuable to us personally. They encourage and strengthen us. That is a good thing, is it not?

While close relationships may be more important to us subjectively, they are not necessarily so objectively.

On the other hand, it is not wrong to love those who are ¹different from us. It is what we are called to do. In fact, as followers of Christ, we are called to love those opposed to us, i.e., our enemies. It just takes the most energy of all interactions and ⁴directly the least immediately rewarding, if not harmful - but potentially the most rewarding indirectly. 

To be able to love those least like us is not natural but ¹supernatural. For this reason, it is good to love others who are different from us. It requires greater dependence on God to love others sacrificially. 

In fact, it is impossible to love sacrificially until we experience the sacrificial love of God offered to us in and through Christ. 

God calls us to this because this is how He loves us...

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. " - Matt 5:43-48

But again, is it wrong to gravitate to others we are most like and have the most in common with? This is actually the basis for friendship. No one would suggest friendship is wrong. Yet some would have us believe it is and call it ⁵"tribalism" - which is the "first cousin" to racism according to those who throw these derogatory labels around.  

The irony is it is usually actual racists that push the narrative that being drawn to others most like us is wrong when, in fact, everyone participates in friendship and considers it not only perfectly normal but healthy.  

We are all far more alike than different.

One thing all of us have in common, that unites us at the strongest and most basic level, is we all desire to be loved, valued, affirmed, and important; i.e., we are designed for love because we are designed to be in relationship with God, who is love. We are all like God, who continuously gives and receives love among the Father, Son, and Spirit. We are in His image.  

And what is God like? The most valuable person of all. Without Him, nothing else exists. We are valuable by virtue of being like God - i.e., in His image.

In summary, it is not wrong or racist to feel more comfortable around those who are more like us. Nevertheless, we are called to a higher standard and to reach out and love those who are least like us, even our enemies. Not loving those different from us is not racist. Unloving, yes. Racist, no. 

For a discussion on identity politics Click here

For a discussion on the joys and challenges of giving, click here. 

To see if God has anything to say about immigrants or immigration, click here.

For a discussion on values, culture, and racism, click here.

For a discussion on racism and the necessity of forgiveness, click here

For a discussion on what divides us, click here.

For a discussion of the harmful nature of identity politics, click here.

What is the nature of racial privilege? Click here for a discussion.

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Footnotes:

¹People who are culturally different from us can have one main thing in common with us. A relationship with God through Christ. This connection is stronger than any natural ties we may have with those most like us culturally, intellectually, in appearance, etc. This is the most significant and deepest common denominator we can have. Especially those least like us naturally. What lovers of Christ have in common is even more significant than the connection among a loving family - though very much like it in important ways. 

If we are among others who have this deep spiritual connection with God, we are dealing with others who are focused on giving and not getting. This is the strongest possible bond we can have with anyone, even immediate family who do not have a love relationship with Christ. True believers are people who seek to love their neighbors as they love themselves. This is the greatest and most unifying value of all. This is also why Christ called loving God and others the greatest commandments.

When this is the central focus of a group of people, it is the strongest point of unity and overrides all other differences. In fact, it allows us to enjoy the differences of others as their uniqueness is a reflection of the creativity of God. This is unity within diversity.

This is why a strong church can be filled with a diversity of cultures and ethnicities yet still be united under this most central point of unity. A relationship of receiving love from our Creator and loving Him in return and our neighbor as we love ourselves. This is greater than any differences and can override them all when we are governed by love.

The two greatest commandments are the greatest not simply because we are told they are but because they summarize the purpose of our existence and the very nature of God and His creatures, i.e., to love as we are loved.

Anything we place a higher value on over our relationship with the Creator is a form of idolatry. Nothing is more valuable than God. Not our culture, race, vocation, or even our family.

This is why churches segregated by race or culture - e.g., white, black, Hispanic, Jewish, etc. - are likely not as honoring to God. To be segregated in this way is to value our culture and personal preferences over loving and valuing God and our neighbor. 

If we are separated by a language barrier, that is a separate issue that can be addressed on a church-to-church basis. But outside of this...

 "...in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise." - Gal 3:26-29

²Some subcultures are so strong they have their very own "lingo."  Some examples would be the hip-hop world, the technology world, the academic world, the world of sports, the medical or health world, etc.  These are subcultures within a culture. 

³Having common values is so important that if we do not, it can even lead to husbands and wives separating. We call it "incompatibility" when, in fact, it is actually a matter of love, or the lack of it. 

⁴By directly, I mean we rarely gain any direct benefit from those we seek to love who are different from us. The benefit we may gain, however, is from seeing others blessed by our efforts to love them. It is an indirect gain. This is not something that comes from them, but comes as a result of loving others as Christ loves, i.e., seeing them flourish because of our efforts. This is what God is like. We are acting like God when we love in this way.  

⁵There can be a problem with tribalism, but it isn't racism as some assert. The problem is it is basically about me, my needs, my wants. So in that sense it is wrong and contrary to our initial design, not because it's racist. 

This focus on self is the result of our rebellion against God and our failed attempt to be our own God. Based on the current condition of the world, it is clear we have failed miserably at being our own gods.

Everything is a mess because of our rebellion. We are now missing the love we once had in a relationship with God, caused by our choosing to disconnect from God, the very Source of love. Now we go about trying to fill that void caused by His absence through created things and our own efforts to obtain them.

The fact is we weren't designed to be our own god and to make life work without the only true God. We were designed to be in union with Him. The source of love, life, and all things, and experiencing a constant flow of love from Him. This enables us to pass love (from Him) on to others. 

We are not an endless spring of love. Only God is. We, on the other hand, are vessels or conduits that can hold and pass on the flow of love from God to and through us to others.

The main point about tribalism is it's not unique to a certain race but common among all humanity, for we have all rebelled from God. But this is not racism as is asserted by some. It is the broken condition of all humanity -  including you and I - not a particular group or race.

⁶ VS subjectively, where someone or some group can be more valuable to us personally.

⁷ Unless or until we find out that all humanity has far more in common at the most fundamental level of who we are as bearers of God's image, i.e., we are all designed by God to love and be loved by Him and to pass on that love to others. This is God's greatest desire i.e. will, directive, commandment etc.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick

Proverbs 13:12-14 ESV

[12] Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

[13] Whoever despises the word brings destruction on himself, but he who reveres the commandment (¹from God) will be rewarded. [14] The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.

The "tree of life" is mentioned in several verses (10 in total) but in only three books - 

Genesis (3x), 

Proverbs(4x), and 

Revelation(3x). 

The beginning, the "middle," and the end of the Bible. As we look closer at the above passage, we can see a connection in all three books. 

12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a ²tree of life.

How does obtaining what we desire bring us life? What constitutes life?

It is experiencing a sense of ³value, importance, significance etc.

When we obtain what we desire, it makes us feel valued, cared for, important. It gives us a sense of purpose and meaning. When we don't, we feel neglected, rejected, ignored, worthless, cast aside, forgotten i.e. it makes the heart "sick..."

13 Whoever despises the word brings destruction on himself, but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded.

What was the "word" Adam and Eve despised..."Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or you will die."

What would have been the reward for Adam and Eve, if they had obeyed? Wisdom i.e., knowledge of good and evil learned through dependence on (trust in) God not independence from (distrust in) God. Seeking to be their own god led to death, not life. 

14 The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death. - Proverbs 13:12-14 ESV

Wisdom is knowing the difference between good and evil. To act wisely brings life and avoids harm, destruction, and death.

Death and life are compared and contrasted in vs 14 just like the two trees in the center of the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:9, 3:3).

Why does God say obtaining what we hope for or desire is like a tree? Trees bear fruit. The tree itself is not life but eating fruit from the tree brings life i.e. not only nutritionally - which involves our physical health - but emotionally as well i.e. emotional health through a sense of being valued and cared for. 

And what does that eating consist of i.e. how do we eat its fruit?

Obedience - submitting to and following God's guiding wisdom. It is through our obedience to God we experience life. Obedience addresses what we must do to flourish and experience fullness of life in contrast to what we are not to do which brings death.

Obedience brings life. Rebellious disobedience brings death. Wisdom or true knowledge of good vs evil helps us see the difference so we experience the former and avoid the latter.

Eating from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil represented disobedience. It was evidence that we are not wise when we act on our own and attempt to be our own god.

For a further discussion on where desire comes from click here.

Was there anything evil about the tree of a knowledge of good and evil, click here?

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Footnotes:

¹"...but he who reveres the commandment (¹from God) will be rewarded." 

To revere the words of God is to revere God i.e. "the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom." Prov 9:10

²What is the essence of life? To experience our significance, importance, value. In a word, to be loved.

How does our experiencing significance, importance and value give us life? Because God is significant, important, and valuable i.e. He is life and we experience our own value in honoring and enjoying His. In this way we are like Him i.e., in His image. 

God is Father, Son, and Spirit. The Spirit emanates from and manifests through the love and joy the Father and Son have in seeing and experiencing the infinite worth and beauty (glory) of the other. We were designed to participate in this relational dynamic. We experience our glory (significance, worth, importance etc) as bearers of His image by partaking in and delighting in His glory i.e. in His infinite worth.

"And this is eternal life, that they know (ginóskó - intimate, relational, or experiential knowledge) you, the only true God (i.e. true Source of life, love, and all things), and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." - Jn 17:3

³why do we need to experience a sense of value, importance, and significance? So we can appreciate and enjoy the value, importance, and significance of God i.e. we can only do so to the extent we experience our own in, by, and through experiencing His.  

In order for us to appreciate and enjoy Him, we must have corresponding qualities within us that match up and align with who God is - the all-glorious Creator of life, love, and all things - some we might partake of and experience these qualities in Him. I.e. we must be like God - in His image - in this same glorious way, so we might partake of His greatness, significance, importance, and value.

Everything that is, exists because God created and sustains it. If God were not, nothing else would be. This makes Him the most significant, important, and valuable being of all other beings or things. He alone is the Alpha and Omega -  the King of kings and the LORD of lords. All things are from, through, and to him. To Him be the glory (the recognition of His infinite worth/value), forever and ever. Amen!

Which comes 1st, grace or humility?

Which occurs first? Our seeing God as the Source of life, love, and all created things more clearly or our being weaned from an ¹inordinate delight in created things? 

Several places in scripture teach that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. This indicates humility comes ²before grace (i.e., the gift of ³God revealing Himself more fully to us) or at least humility is the means of experiencing ongoing and increasing grace. 

We must recognize attempts at being our own God - our arrogant independence - do not work long-term, i.e., we must humble ourselves. We must die to live. Death to our attempts to save ourself comes before life. 

God is our greatest happiness. Anything that increases our union with Him is good, even (and maybe especially) pain.

For a discussion on the necessity of humility click here

 

How do we discover God's love in our pain? click here

For a further discussion on the primary role of pain click here

For a further discussion of how God uses evil for our good click here...and here.

The greater the evil the greater the opportunity for healing/

grace click here.

For a discussion on the key lesson from the book of Job, click here.

For a discussion on the value of paradox, click here.

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Footnotes:

¹Why do we hold on to and pursue created things so tenaciously? It allows us to temporarily cling to our independence from God. We want the delights of creation without the humility of admitting they are all gifts from our Creator or the necessity of our submission to and dependence on Him. 

²The old saying is you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. 

However, you can also salt its oats. 

The choice to not drink is up to the horse. Salting its oats is up to someone else. 

While the choice to humble ourselves precedes our experience of grace, pain is often a means by which we are humbled. We often have no control over painful circumstances, even though we have control over how we respond to them i.e. we can either humble ourselves in response to pain or become defient and rage at God for it.

³it is not because God is hiding that we can't see Him, but because our pride - our tenacious clinging to our independence - blinds us to seeing Him clearly. It takes humility to see and appreciate humility i.e. to see Christ as the humble servant He is. We can't see or grasp what Christ is truly like without humility because He is humble. 

Without humility we project on to God arrogance when He says we should honor and praise Him i.e. we don't see Him correctly. We suppress the truth in our unrighteousness i.e. our unbelief and valuing (worshiping) created things over our Creator (Rom 1:18-23).

Yes Christ is the Lion of Judah but he is also the Lamb of God who willingly humbled and submitted himself to the Father to be slain... and that for our sake and the Father's glory i.e. he did this for the sake of others. 

Free will or free choice?

While our choices are ¹free and 100% ours (i.e. we freely choose to do what we want), our ³wills are not. Our wills are tied to our desires (wants). 

To say it another way, our "chooser" is not broken, but our "wanter" is.

²And our wants (desires) dictate what we ¹choose to pursue. 

If we desire (want) the wrong things, we choose to pursue the wrong things. 

And our desires are tied to what we value. The more we value something, the more we want it and the harder we pursue it. 

And we value only what we ⁴see as valuable. 

If ⁴we are blind to seeing God's true value, worth, beauty, wisdom, glory, majesty, and power as our infinite loving Creator - i.e., the Source of life, love, and all things - we will never pursue Him as the infinitely valuable and significant (glorious) being that He is. Instead, we will desire and pursue created things and beings. 

(For a further discussion on our ability to see things as they truly are, click here.)

Why? ⁵We are like God and created to enjoy (delight in) Him who is most valuable, beautiful, wise, glorious, majestic, and loving. Absent a personal relationship with Him, His Spirit does not reside in us, and we do not see Him as He is and go after His creation (the next best thing) to fill the void of His absence. Particularly other bearers of His image (you and I) who, by design, are most like God and have the greatest capacity to love and reflect Him most. This capacity is awakened and re-engaged when we are in union with Him through Christ.

And what is truly valuable is experienced by faith more than pleasant circumstances. 

"...without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he ⁶rewards those who seek him." - Heb 11:6

For a further discussion on the importance and necessity of faith, click here.

So do we have any evidence that God is trustworthy outside of - or in spite of - our circumstances? 

Yes, Christ Himself and what he went through to restore us to the Father. If this was the only evidence to prove God's love to and for us, it is more than sufficient. No other evidence is necessary. 

But to fully appreciate this restoration, we must understand who God created us to be and how alienated we are from Him who is the Source of life.

God's glory is our glory.

Scripture tells us God is infinitely valuable (glorious), but what about our value and our feeling of being significant or important? Are we valuable? Does it matter? If so, why?

Because God is significant, important, and valuable, we are and must be like Him in this same way in order for us to be able to appreciate and enjoy Him in all His glory and all these qualities He possesses. 

We are told in Jas 4: 

[5] "...Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”"?  

What kind of spirit has God put within us? A spirit that longs (is passionate) for infinite love, worth, and glory. Love that can only be satisfied fully by the Source of love - our Creator - not by creation. 

This includes all the innate talents and gifts we already possess... such as musical, mechanical, athletic, business, artistic (creative), speaking, writing, or intellectual skills etc.  

God will not share in (is jealous over) our pursuit or loyalty to any other "lover" because He knows our greatest joy and satisfaction is ⁷ultimately in Him. There is no other true "lover" who can fill this need and desire in us for love; love that He designed to be filled ultimately and only by Him who is love. Not because He needs our love but because we need His. This is "the spirit He has made to dwell in us."

Our capacity to value and enjoy Him is unparalleled by any other creature - even celestial beings.

Our being in His image wasn't happenstance. He designed us this way. He is the Creator; we are His creatures...but unlike the rest of creation, we are created in His image. Therefore, He loves us and desires that we experience Him to the maximum extent of His true worth and our capacity as bearers of His image. 

Everything in creation we seek for life (i.e. meaning, significance, value) outside of God is temporary. Creation is good and has value, but it is limited. Therefore, it comes up short of filling our need for and sense of value-worth (glory). God gives us creation as a means of revealing Himself to us and as evidence of His infinite love for us. But it was never meant to be our god, i.e., that which we worship and pursue.

GOD alone is the Source of infinite love. To experience His love to the maximum extent of our capacity, we must give Him all our loyalty and faithfulness (i.e., have no other "gods" before Him). Otherwise, we will never experience His love as it truly is and as we were designed to, but instead we will pursue created things (especially other creatures) for love, meaning, and purpose outside of and instead of Him. We can not worship both God and mammon.

Where does this need/desire for significance (glory) come from? Click here. 

Why was there a forbidden tree in the garden? Click here.

For a discussion on the necessity of choice, click here.

For a further discussion on how our "wanter" is broken and not our "chooser," click here. 

For a further discussion on how our choices are affected by our ability to see, click here.

For a discussion on ability vs. responsibility, click here

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Footnotes:

¹And our choices are ours alone. No one else's, including God. Therefore, we are fully accountable for what we value and choose to pursue. 

²Note the progression of the "ands" mentioned at beginning of this article. Each deals with a significant shift, but also a vital connection to the previous and following "and" statement. To get to the 2nd "and" you must acknowledge the 1st. And to get to the 3rd, we must recognize the 2nd, etc. Here's a recap...

*our wants-desires dictate what we ¹choose to pursue. 

*our desires-wants are tied to what we value

*we value only what we ⁴see as valuable. 

*our partaking of and participation in His love now is primarily by faith

³Is God free to do whatever he wants? 100%!  But because God is holy, He only wants (desires-wills) what is good and best. He freely chooses righteousness; i.e., His character or nature dictates His will/desires, as does ours.

 For a fuller discussion, click here.

⁴To see truly, the Spirit of God must reside in us and reveal to us God's true character. And that only occurs after we've been "born again," i.e., after we are spiritually regenerated. 

"Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again (1st) he cannot see the kingdom of God.” " John 3:30

Before we are born again, we are blind to spiritual things - i.e., we can not see the things pertaining to God's kingdom. The Bible says we are dead to God. Last I checked, dead people don't see very well 😉! 

⁵Why does our feelings and desire for significance, importance, and value matter? 

We are like God, who is significant, important, and valuable. We must be like Him so we can appreciate and enjoy these qualities in Him. Those persons or beings most like God are most able to appreciate and enjoy Him as He is.

God's significance, importance, and value (glory) are the foundation for (and Source of) ours. Our recognizing this about God is essential to experiencing our own true value (glory). The more we see his glory, the more we experience our glory in and through Him. 

⁶Rewards may be in this life but ultimately and mainly are in the next. Our primarily reward is God Himself revealed to us in the fullness of His glory in eternity. We only see him now by faith - i.e. through a "glass darkly." In eternity we will see Him face to face for the first time! And then we will be like him (i.e. all glorious) for we will see Him as He is i.e. in the fullness of His glory!!! We can't yet because we are not fully glorified. To see God in our present unglorified state would kill us.

⁷there is nothing wrong with creation and all the gifts that come to us through it. It is good to enjoy the good things God gives us as long as we don't make them the highest things i.e. They don't become our gods that we value above the one and only true God.

The foundation for true happiness

Our greatest joy is the happiness we experience by bringing happiness to someone else we deeply love i.e., the delight we experience in bringing another joy by treating them with value.

To love someone is to so identify with their ¹well being that we cannot be happy unless they are also happy i.e., their spiritual ¹flourishing is what makes us happy. 

This is the same kind of love a spiritually and emotionally mature and healthy parent has for their child. It is sacrificial love. It is love in spite of any qualities we do not like in them.

This is the same kind of love God has for us. He is most happy (delighted) when we are most happy. And we are happiest when our happiness is in Him. God has tied His joy to ours and ours in turn is tied to His. 

However, due to our rebellious distrust of God, we seek and latch on to created things for happiness instead of Him. 

But this only works short term. It is contrary to our design as bearers of His image and therefore does not bring true long term happiness. 

So how does God draw us to himself so we find in Him the greatest happiness? By helping us see that true and lasting happiness is not in created things. 

Our problem is we are so fixated on created things - whether that be the abilities we internally possess by birth or resources we have aquired or have access to. To find true and lasting happiness we must be weaned from creation as our ²primary source of happiness. But this ³usually involves denial or loss of these gifts which is painful. 

The irony is pain - which makes us least happy - is often a primary means to our greatest happiness, which is ultimately God Himself. 

But this is only due to our distrust of God i.e. pain is caused by our attaching to things that do not make us truly happy long term. God does not cause pain. It is the absence of God that causes pain. 

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Footnotes:

¹What does spiritual flourishing entail? Experiencing our greatest glory, God himself, which can lead to flourishing in all other ways i.e. emotionally, relationally, and sometimes physically/ materially. I say "can" lead as long as God remains our first (primary) love. To find created things our focus leads us away from our ultimate good which is God.

²Creation is not bad, it is good. But when our hearts look to created things as the source of our greatest happiness we are operating contrary to God's intent and our design as bearers of His image. 

This is out of line with reality of who He is and we are. This is bad because it's contrary to who we are designed to be i.e. God is the greatest source of our happiness. Without Him there would be no creation or true happiness. 

³Being denied or losing the blessings of this life is only necessary when our love for them is greater than our love for God. As painful as this is, it occurs so we might experience the ultimate and greater good, God Himself. This is God's intent behind all pain and suffering. Now it is up to us to see, believe, and receive God's love hidden in our pain. 

Pain, humility, and knowing God

Is there any connection between knowing God, humility, and pain? At first we may not think so. 

Let's take a closer look. 

Since humility is key to knowing, seeing, and experiencing God, we should embrace and receive, with thanks, anything that helps humble us, including and maybe especially pain and suffering.  

Instead of bristling at pain and pursuing ¹whatever we can find to distract or relieve us from it, we should embrace struggles and be grateful for them. They are a vital means of drawing us nearer to God. 

Knowing God is far more significant and beneficial than short-term relief from our struggles (though it usually doesn't feel that way at the moment). Seeing and knowing this enables us to receive suffering with gratitude.

In short, the reason we are to be thankful for our struggles (vs complaining about them) is they ²can be - and usually are - a primary means of strengthening our understanding and relationship with God who is the source of life, love, and all things i.e. pain ²can be a very unpleasant means to the greatest and most desirable and pleasant end - our increased union with God and the joy and happiness we find in Him. So while the loss of things we rely on for comfort or pleasure are painful, they become the very means by which we are drawn closer to God, the Source of life, love, and all things. 

Thankfulness is the best indicator of humility. Humility is the key to seeing and knowing God in all His infinite love and glory.

How do we discover God's love in our pain? click here

For a further discussion on the primary role of pain click here

For a further discussion of how God uses evil for our good click here...and here.

The greater the evil the greater the opportunity for healing/

grace click here.

For a discussion on the key lesson from the book of Job, click here.

For a discussion on the value of paradox, click here.

For a discussion on the necessity of humility click here

For a discussion on the fallacy of the health and wealth gospel Click here

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Footnotes:

¹drugs, alcohol, and sex are some of the more obvious and most common diversions. But diversions can also be more socially acceptable pursuits, such as recreation, career, entertainment, material possessions, food, power, control, fame, or anything else that will help give us sense of value or distract us or relieve us from pain. Boredom is also a form of low-grade pain. 

This is not because created things we use to bring us pleasure are bad. God created us for pleasure but in, by, and through Him. Having a sense of value, meaning purpose, or comfort are all pleasurable experiences. But when comfort or pleasure in itself (the opposite of pain) becomes a higher pursuit than God, it is contrary to our design of finding greatest happiness in God and what He provides. 

The issue isn't having or experiencing these but when they become substitutes we use to give us what only God can ultimately fulfill. 

²Actually pain and struggle is a primary means to our increasing maturity and greater union with God when received with thanksgiving. I say "can" because it depends on us trusting that God is using our pain for our ultimate good (even the pain caused by our failures or the failures and offenses of others). Otherwise, suffering will only make us angry and embitter us. 

"See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no 'root of bitterness' springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;" - Heb 12:15. No one likes being around a bitter and angry person - except maybe others who are the same way... "birds of a feather flock together..." as the saying goes.  

It should be mentioned that the author of Hebrews was writing to people going through intense persecution and suffering at the hands of others.

Hebrews 12:6-8 ESV

⁶For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” ⁷It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ⁸If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons... 

Hebrews 12:11 ESV

¹¹For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 

Other passages that directly or indirectly address this vital truth... 

James 1:2-4 ESV

²Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, ³for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. ⁴And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.  

Ephesians 5:20

"...giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,"  

1 Thessalonians 5:18

"Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." 

Colossians 3:17

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." 

Philippians 4:6

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." 

This last passage is particularly interesting because we often go to God in prayer for relief from difficulties, yet God says we should give thanks for those circumstances we find no relief from i.e. don't just seek God for relief, seek God himself and be grateful for everything that aids you in knowing Him better, especially difficulties. 

Romans 8:28-29 

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. [29] For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he (Christ) might be the firstborn among many brothers."

The good that God is achieving in all things (vs 28) - both hard and comforting - is making us more like His Son (vs 29), not necessarily improved circumstances.

Work out your own salvation

Because our lack of humility and our inclination to be our own god has continued since our initial rebellion in Eden, everything we do tends to be ¹performance-based i.e. We are naturally inclined to take everything that God says - His directions or commandments - and turn them into a performance based approach to God i.e. a way of earning God's approval, acceptance, and love. 

Why? 

We feel compelled to prove our worth to counter our sense of inadequacy that resulted from our abandoning God. He alone is the source and only true basis of our identity. Without Him, we desperately try to make up for the loss.

Why? Because we were created for glory but are no longer connected to the Source of glory, life, and meaning i.e. we are missing what we were designed to participate in; the beautiful (glorious), all-wise, and loving God. 

Since we (humanity in general) are designed to experience our greatest sense of worth and true identity in God, but turned away from Him, we now seek to regain this by any means possible outside of and apart from Him. 

We no longer do things to honor God out of gratitude for His goodness and love, but try to "save ourselves" and prove our worth to God or others by doing "good" deeds. 

Even as His children, we are ²naturally inclined this way if we are not operating in and by His Spirit i.e., by Love.

True humility recognizes I can't (and never will) follow and pursue God perfectly in my natural strength, i.e., by simply willing it. God must be the energy and driving force behind my actions. I must recognize my weakness in living as God directs before I can be strong (in His strength) in faithfully pursuing Him.

This is the paradox of the "upside down" Christian life; when I am weak, I am strong. 2 Cor 12:7-10

"Therefore, my beloved... work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." - Phil 2:12-13

This passage does not say work for your salvation but work out your salvation that is already yours i.e. live out who you are - who God has made you to be in and through Christ - i.e. act as someone who is perfectly righteous in God's eyes (and loved) because of Christ's efforts on your behalf, not as someone trying desperately to make yourself righteous to win the acceptance and approval (and love) of others... starting with God.

Who we are in Christ (our "own salvation") is what gives us the will (desire) and power to live for God's pleasure. But we must fully believe and embrace what God declares about us in Christ if we are to experience His strength in and through us.

This is what Paul was also saying in Romans 6:11 

"So you also *must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus."

*must count - λογίζεσθε (logizesthe) 

Strong's 3049: To reckon, count, charge with; reason, decide, conclude; think, suppose.

Because sin no longer has a legal claim 

on us, live accordingly i.e. we are free from sin's legal claims; i.e., dead to sin's condemnation because Christ already fully bore its consequences, so we no longer have to.

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." - Romans 8:1

For a further discussion on the difference between being righteous and living righteously, click here.

For a discussion on the difference between being spirit-driven vs works-driven, click here.

For a discussion on being loved vs experiencing his love, click here.

For a discussion on becoming who we already are in Christ, click here.

For a discussion on how we are created for glory, click here, here, and here.

For a discussion on how do we admit our unfaithfulness click here

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Footnotes:

¹a performance-based approach simply means attempting to win God's love and acceptance by our good deeds. However, this is not only unnecessary because of Christ's work on our behalf, but an insult to Him and His work that fully accomplished this for us. To approach life this way is a disposition of rebellion toward God? When we take time to contemplate this, we are saying Christ's efforts were a waste of time because my actions can be good enough to satisfy and match the perfect and infinite holiness and goodness of God.

²This is why the Galatians reverted back to a performance-based salvation after Paul initially had clearly presented the gospel to them, resulting in him writing his letter to get them back on track.