With my mind, I eschew the so-called prosperity ‘gospel’, that system of thought teaching that God wants his people to expect good health and financial prosperity, and that the sign of God’s blessing is fitness and riches.
But with my heart, I find I am a card carrying believer. When the script of my life goes contrary to my desires for comfort and safety, I am taken aback. I wonder about God’s love and question his goodness. In the darkness of my heart my assessment of the NORM for the Christian life is prosperity. When it does not come, it can only be that God has failed me.
Such thinking shows that I am a true blue believer in the prosperity ‘gospel’, not in that part of my mind which forms the words I speak and the convictions I articulate, but in that part that feeds my heart and my emotions and my desires and my faith.
This morning I was reading about Peter in Acts 12. Peter is imprisoned, and yet the church prays for him. As a result, an angel comes, leads him through miraculously swinging gates, and into the still night a free man. This is the kind of thing my prosperity trained faith would expect. It is a wonderful thing, and we praise God for it, and we look for similar experiences in our own lives.
Too bad that James did not get to see any of this.
James, the apostle, the brother of John, did not get to see or celebrate Peter’s miraculous release. Herod did not bother imprisoning James. He just flat out killed him.
So, Peter lived out a miracle, and James just died. Both faithful men. Both among Jesus’ inner circle. Both leaders in the church. Both according to my ‘prosperity’ thinking deserving of God’s best. One is simply slaughtered, the other delivered.
James, though, not Peter, is the norm. The norm in a world Jesus described as a place where his people ‘will have tribulation’ is not Peter being rescued, but rather the saints in Hebrews 11 losing meals, body parts, and loved ones. The norm is James.
When I make Peter’s deliverance the norm, then I grumble and question God over every problem in my life (currently: broken timing belt on daughter’s car) and am blind to the plethora of blessings around me (currently: I slept in a comfortable bed last night, with a full tummy, in reasonable health, with a loving family, and a wonderful church, and…).
When, on the other hand, I take Jesus seriously and believe that the world he has overcome is a world in which tribulation is the norm, I am not shocked by James’ death, though saddened, and I am thrilled by not only Peter’s deliverance, but deeply thankful for the smaller and seemingly mundane blessings of food on my plate and daughters who still call me ‘Daddy’.
When I retrieved my daughter from along I-4 on Tuesday as a tow truck hooked on to her dead car, she was talking with a friend on her phone telling her what had happened. “It’s okay now,” she said, “I’m with my daddy.”
That is the gospel we are to embrace, the gospel of a Father’s love displayed in the faithfulness of the cross. In this world there will be tribulation.
But it’s okay, now. We’re with our ‘Daddy’.
Chris in NM
Amen. beautiful, true thoughts to start my day! Thanks!
Jenifer Hanson
Randy, thanks for this reminder. It is so easy to forget that we can change our days by shifting our perspectives. By the way, I still love the name of your blog!
Renee
I want to thank you also for this reminder. I have struggled (as you know) these last 8 months with my health – and the loss of my pastor 😉 to another congregation. Now that the issues with my health are improving, I can reflect on God’s graciousness & goodness.
I have found a support group on facebook with people who have or are suffering from the same health affliction that I was. Some of these people have/are suffering for YEARS with this problem – me only a few months. Some of these people do not have the knowledgable doctors that I have been blessed with. They have had to travel thousands of miles – while I only had to drive 50. I praise God for my improving health and the prayers others, and I can now look back and be grateful for all those whom God has place in my life to affect a ‘cure’ for this problem. I hope to, that now I can be of support for others. Miss you lot’s Randy, Barb and the rest.