I read this post on twitter today: "Good news of Gospel of Christ is not if you follow him everything will go well, good news is you get him & he's enough!" via @prodigaljohn
And here was my succession of thoughts:
1. YES! So true!
2. Wait, what?
3. C'mon, can that be any more vague.
4. Okay, what the heck does it mean to be "enough"?
5. Ugh, I hate abstract things.
Yep, that's basically how it went.
But really, I think that's a valid question. That's all great and good and wonderful to say that we get Christ and He's enough, but what does that mean for him to be enough? Sure I can say in my life that He's enough and He'll never let me go hungry, or thirsty, and He'll provide for all my needs because I'm more valuable than the lily in the valley. Blah blah blah.
But try that on the hungry kid. The orphan in Africa. The woman who has just been raped. Yeah, try that on them.
That's where I keep getting caught up. If God is God and He is enough than why can't He stinkin feed the hungry. Why can't he prevent children from being sold into the sex trade? Why can't he prevent innocent women from being victimized by rape? Why can't he feed the millions of people who go to bed hungry? Why can't he provide clean water for all his people? WHY?
What does it mean for Christ to be enough for those people?
And I get it...our ultimate home is not here, but in heaven. But if that's the case, then why don't we just get to peace out once we become believers and go chill in heaven? Why the suffering here?
Sometimes it just doesn't make sense to me. But you know what...I think I finally know what people meant when they said that going to Africa would change me forever. Not a day goes by now that I don't ask these questions and think of the children I left behind there.
Being a follower of Jesus is anything but easy. The hardest thing I do every day is try to make sense of it all. And I don't mean to be negative...just looking for answers. If anyone's got them, I'm ready to hear 'em.
1 comment:
Hebrews 11 springs to mind...not only the part about the heroes of the faith doing awesome things for God but the ones that "went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persucuted, and mistreated. The world was not worthy of them." and "they did not receive what was promised them" on this earth.
Suffering changes us, weather we see it or experience it ourselves. While a lot of people love to quote that God "works all things for the good of those who love Him" I'm reminded that it never says that God makes all things good...just that He'll use crappy things for some good...meaning that even if we go hungry, maybe it'll teach us to trust Him when nothing makes sense.
Maybe the most important lesson of this world is that all the crap we see is a result of Him letting us choose a different way from His. Once we get to heaven, we'll see the results of His plan, but maybe this world is just preparing us to really appreciate it.
In any case, I hope I wasn't too abstract on you...just a few thoughts. Great questions. =)
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