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Education Ministry

Posted on September 2, 2004 ...

Is America better now than it was four years ago? That’s the question two men want you to consider as we move closer to the day one of them will be elected president of the United States. President Bush wants you to believe it is. If he can convince you of this, he assumes you will attribute this to his administration and vote for four more years of a Bush presidency. Senator Kerry, on the other hand, is trying to convince you it is not. If he succeeds, he assumes you will vote for change and want him as your next president. As the election nears, both candidates will try to prove their positions by talking about the economy, national security, the war on terrorism, Iraq, health care, education, and a host of other issues.

What it all boils down to is this: If you believe the Bush administration has made America (and what most of us mean by America is our part of America) more stable economically, better able to defend itself against terrorism, and more in line with your way of thinking, you will probably vote for President Bush. If, however, you believe America is less stable, less secure, and less agreeable to your views, you might vote for Senator Kerry.

I suppose an assessment of things like the economy, security, and certain policies serves us well when it comes to voting for a political candidate. We simply determine what is most favorable and vote for the person we believe will achieve and maintain those results. But when it comes to the Christian life, such criteria is irrelevant. In fact, if the value of a religion were measured by financial prosperity, personal security, and agreeability, Christianity would not fare too well. This might be hard for some of us to see here within the affluence of America. We seem to have been overwhelmingly blessed with wealth, security, and an agreeable life. But in many other parts of the world, Christians find blessing in the midst of poverty, persecution, and distress. We would be surprised at the faith and joy these Christians exhibit in conditions we would think unacceptable. Interestingly, faith in God often becomes weak when life is easy, but it appears to thrive most when conditions are least favorable.

I offer this observation to challenge the myth that God intends the Christian life to be easy. Reading the Bible, one gets the idea that God often allows His people to get right in the middle of trouble just so He can bail them out, grow them up, or both. Those whom God uses the most appear to have the hardest lives. Consider Joseph, Moses, Daniel, Job, the disciples, even our Lord Himself. Seldom does God deliver His people out of bad situations, but He is always with them through stormy waters, fiery furnaces, and valleys of the shadow of death. No, the Christian life was never meant to be easy – better, yes, but certainly not easy. Perhaps what we need is to reconsider the “good life” from God’s point of view. The Bible teaches that God loves us and always wants what is best for us, yet He still allows us to struggle with various trials. Could it be that the very thing we want the least turns out to be exactly what we need the most? Now that’s a question worth considering.