A thought by Rick Warren,
(2012-10-23) from his book, The Purpose
Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (p. 221). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on
the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)
Here is the total context of the thought. Many Christians go through some very
difficult circumstances in life. Rick
says, “You’ll wonder, ‘Why is this happening to me? Why am I having such a
difficult time?’ One answer is that life is supposed to be difficult! It’s what
enables us to grow. Remember, earth is not heaven! Many Christians misinterpret
Jesus’ promise of the ‘abundant life’ (John 10:10) to mean perfect health, a
comfortable lifestyle, constant happiness, full realization of your dreams, and
instant relief from problems through faith and prayer. In a word, they expect
the Christian life to be easy. They expect heaven on earth. This self-absorbed
perspective treats God as a genie who simply exists to serve you in your
selfish pursuit of personal fulfillment. But God is not your servant, and if
you fall for the idea that life is supposed to be easy, either you will become
severely disillusioned or you will live in denial of reality.”
Now that could be a statement that turns you
totally off or it causes you to stop.
What does it mean?
Here is the total context of the thought. Many Christians go through some very
difficult circumstances in life. Rick
says, “You’ll wonder, ‘Why is this happening to me? Why am I having such a
difficult time?’ One answer is that life is supposed to be difficult! It’s what
enables us to grow. Remember, earth is not heaven! Many Christians misinterpret
Jesus’ promise of the ‘abundant life’ (John 10:10) to mean perfect health, a
comfortable lifestyle, constant happiness, full realization of your dreams, and
instant relief from problems through faith and prayer. In a word, they expect
the Christian life to be easy. They expect heaven on earth. This self-absorbed
perspective treats God as a genie who simply exists to serve you in your
selfish pursuit of personal fulfillment. But God is not your servant, and if
you fall for the idea that life is supposed to be easy, either you will become
severely disillusioned or you will live in denial of reality.”
You see one of God’s purposes for us is to become
like His Son, Jesus so He takes us through circumstances that have a way of
testing us and defining us. Granted some
of the negatives of life come from things we have caused, and also things that
the Enemy sends to hurt us but no matter where it comes from God uses them for
our good, to define us into being like Christ.
Now Rick also says, “Becoming like Christ does not
mean losing your personality or becoming a mindless clone. God created your
uniqueness, so He certainly doesn’t want to destroy it. Christlikeness is all
about transforming your character, not your personality.”
If this really interests you click on the title of
this book at the top and it will send you to Amazon.com where you can buy the book. This is so important for us to really
understand. When I really caught this it
changed totally my perspective on the difficult circumstances of my life.
This is not heaven.
This is the defining time.
So how are you handling the difficulties in your
life?
Comments
Post a Comment