by monty keeling
Ok, so this is not your everyday devotional guide. But aren't you getting tired of all those books and magazine articles which advise you to do this or that so you're life will improve? Here something different is offered. The claim that doing anything to improve your life is a waste of time. You heard write, this column offers rare fare on the Web, we're not trying to sell anything, we're not offering any "must see" solutions to life's problems. Basically we're here to attest Life Stinks!
I've been telling friends and relatives I was going to do something like this for a long time. Everything that sells today in Christianity is praise this or praise that. Instead of warning people about Hell and sin, winning churches today try to get their congregations to feel good and avoid shame. Nobody wants to publicly confess their sins anymore, we all want to be known as morally challenged. But sin is still around and Hell does at least as much damage as ever.
With our technological advances, and our hereditary optimism, we United States folks are still trying to build the heaven on earth this nation's founders envisioned. It just can't be done, life stinks.
My church raised friends get mad at me when I observe an important part of our faith demands we grasp the fact that life stinks. "Life is good," they argue. "God wants us to enjoy life."
"Oh yeah," I argue, "then why did God make misquotes, traffic cops, and teenagers?" No matter how good things with life may go over the short, they ending up stinking in the long. As a pastor I once knew a good, Godly, woman who confided she felt guilty because her life had been so happy while the people around her seemed to suffer so much. I apologized for predicting, but went on and told her to wait, life gets to everybody eventually. Two years later, after a series of family tragedies she confirmed, with sadness in her eyes, that I was right.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying God stinks. God is good. We shouldn't confuse life with God. Remember Dave Dravecky, the former San Francsico Giants pitcher who fought his way back into the game after having a cancerous tumor removed from his pitching arm? His second game back the arm broke ending his major league career. Dave has become a very influential Christian author and speaker (well at least he's had influence on me). I especially like what he says he has learned about life and God.
"Life isn't always fair, at least in the short run, but the Bible taught me not to confuse life with God. When you're confronted with trouble you don't ask "Why me?' You ask God, "What do you want me to do with this situation?"
I would add that life often isn't fair at all. Isn't that what former President Jimmy Carter said while he was in office? Jesus said about the same thing when he said on different occasions that the poor and war would be with us always. And if life was ever hard on anybody it was hard on Jesus.
NEXT: You Call This Peace?