The Gospel According to Matt

A noticeable thing happens among Christians when they go through rough times.  They stop serving.

We see this happen on a regular basis.  A marriage gets tough, a job is lost, a family member faces a troubling medical diagnosis, and people stop serving.  They say, “It’s not a good time for me right now.  I need some time away.  I’m in no shape to serve.”

We think this is an improper response to trying times. 

Life is hard.  We all acknowledge this.  But when trouble strikes us we’re shocked.  Someone else might lose their job.  Someone else might be diagnosed with cancer.  Someone else’s marriage might be in trouble.  We expect this.  But we act as if we are immune.  And when these problems actually strike our own lives, we retreat.

Maybe we blame God.  Maybe we feel like we’ve kept up our end of the bargain.  Maybe we think that God isn’t keeping up His end.

But Scripture promises trouble for all followers of Jesus; indeed for all people.  Scripture promises that trouble, hardship, famine, nakedness, and danger will attack the followers of God—but also promises that such things cannot seperate us from the love of God (Romans 8:35).  God does not promise to deliver us from such valleys, He promises to be with us when we walk through them (Psalm 23:4).

For some reason we blame God when bad things happen.  When good things happen we take credit—we are competent, successful, responsible, and accomplished.  But when bad things happen it’s God’s fault.

Scripture says we should not blame God, that the bad things that happen in the world are a direct result of humanity’s fleshly desires, not a result of God’s sovereignty (James 1:12-14).

In our opinion, hard times don’t prevent us from serving but they enable us to serve more.  When we face disease, we are enabled to understand and serve others who are diseased.  When we face the loss of a job, we find we have more time to serve not less.  When our marriages suffer we discover the tipping point and know that we need to make positive changes in order to fulfill our vows before God.

So our challenge in hard times is simple:  Don’t stop believing and don’t stop serving.  It may create opportunity for spiritual joy and spiritual growth that we could not have imagined.