There is a lot of talk in the church about sanctification, about following Jesus and being His disciple. There is not a lot of talk about suffering. But the two go together. The Bible describes the Christian life as a life of suffering. The TV preachers describe the Christian life as a life without suffering. Which is it?
The “Health and Wealth” teachers and the “Prosperity Gospel” take this to the extreme. Sickness, poverty, too many red lights on the way to work are signs of a lack of faith, a lock of God’s blessings. If you are suffering then you show yourself to be a false disciple of Jesus. This is a horrible and disastrous false teaching.
But there is a subtle “sanctification-means-less-suffering” doctrine in all of us, and inner Buddhist that thinks that our suffering means that we are far from Jesus, our troubles are indications of God’s abandonment. Which is why, I suspect, troubles always stir up questions about God’s location. “Where is God in the midst of trouble?” We ask the question because we think (without thinking) that God must keep suffering at arm’s length, and if we’re suffering, God must keep us at arm’s length.
The “Health and Wealth” teachers and the “Prosperity Gospel” take this to the extreme. Sickness, poverty, too many red lights on the way to work are signs of a lack of faith, a lock of God’s blessings. If you are suffering then you show yourself to be a false disciple of Jesus. This is a horrible and disastrous false teaching.
But there is a subtle “sanctification-means-less-suffering” doctrine in all of us, and inner Buddhist that thinks that our suffering means that we are far from Jesus, our troubles are indications of God’s abandonment. Which is why, I suspect, troubles always stir up questions about God’s location. “Where is God in the midst of trouble?” We ask the question because we think (without thinking) that God must keep suffering at arm’s length, and if we’re suffering, God must keep us at arm’s length.
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