Lord, What Is it that You Want Me to Do With This Now?
Especially After the Events of the Last Few Days, and the Anxiety, Fear, and Stress it Has Produced, Many People Ask This Question
After the last days of the election, voting, allegations of fraud, recounts, violence, and whatever else like the (COVID-19) pandemic, we all feel like asking this: “God, what is it you want me to do with this now?”
Do We Think Bigger Than Our Circumstances?
The joke has two guys talking and the first asks a question about a personally hurtful event. The second guy says, “Well, under the circumstances. . .” The first interrupts him: “What in the world are you doing under there?”
We shouldn’t be living underneath our circumstances or our problems. The gospel says live above them. So many times, Jesus says to have ‘PEACE.’ Peace is impossible to come by if we are ‘under the circumstances.’ Many of us have been ‘under the circumstances’ due to recent events.
Our World Has Far Too Many Spiritual Problems
Just in the articles posted on this site today, I saw four that spoke about problems we face that could be classified as being SPIRITUAL. They spoke about things we face that harm us, slow us down, even wipe us out. We must deal with them. And I wasn’t even searching for these types of articles.
Don’t try to solve SPIRITUAL problems with POLITICS.
And none of us have any control over politics — except that we can vote. In a broader sense, we try to solve spiritual problems with humanistic methods. The Bible calls this ‘living in the flesh.’
So, we put our trust in our politicians, expecting them to do right by us. That is like the song that says, “Looking for love in all the wrong places.” It’s said: “Don’t trust politicians. Instead, count your fingers after shaking hands.” It’s said, “What happens to the promises once the politician is elected?” Paul included politicians saying ‘they become a law unto themselves’: Rom 2:14.
Reconsidering David and Goliath
We also have a lot of pastor-politicians today. The Apostle Paul calls them ‘INSTRUCTORS IN CHRIST.’ In their attempts to get us to ‘vote for them,’ because they motivate and inspire us, they say we should be like David, pick up stones, and go after the Goliaths in our lives and slay them. They get us yelling for VICTORY, saying not to be VICTIMS.
‘FATHERS OF THE GOSPEL’ know that this story is more about the victorious things Jesus would do for us when he came into the world. They know, if we will listen to him, he defeats ‘the world, the flesh, and the devil,’ at least as far as these controlling or aggravating our life circumstances.
Jesus brings promises and blessings from God, not another job for us to do.
What aggravated so many Jews in his day was that Jesus said his Kingdom was NOT of this world. They wanted Jesus to be a Ruler, kick the Romans in the butt, and establish God’s Kingdom on earth. So many Christians think this way today too. They want Jesus to be David and defeat Goliath for us. And of course, they want him to do so by means of their political candidate.
“I Am the Truth” — “The Truth Will Set You Free”
These words of Jesus are often perplexing to us. We want Jesus to give us a set of rules that will allow us to win every battle in life and set us free to live life in a total victorious fashion. Again, we want to be VICTORS, not VICTIMS.
They want a new ‘doctrine’ we can put to use that is totally infallible. Hey, it’s a great idea and a great desire, but it’s not the way life works.
Paul says, “Jesus is our peace.” He’s (1) truth, (2) freedom, and (3) peace. Because of this, we live ABOVE our circumstances, not UNDER them.
We believers are told we’re citizens of heaven only temporarily here. We’re called ‘ambassadors for Christ,’ so we’re from another place. Some say it’s like we have ‘visitation passports’ to be here. I like to say we’re on ‘temporary assignment,’ and this life is a ‘test.’
Popular songs tell us these things in different ways. “(This World Is) My Temporary Home.” “Somewhere Down the Road There Will Be Answers to the Questions.” “What if Our Sorrows and Tears Are God’s Blessings in Disguise?”
Living in Truth is Living God’s Declared Reality
This is the way I view the gospel: it’s God’s declared reality. The gospel is said to be God’s TRUTH, which leads to FREEDOM and PEACE.
We’re told to (1)believe and trust in God’s Prophet-Messenger, Jesus, and to (2) believe and live his Gospel Message. You can’t accept a Messenger and not also accept the Message he brings.
“For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God so that no one will be able to boast.” This is the simple gospel.
Jesus says our JOB is simply to BELIEVE (John 6:29). No wonder he says his way is easy and his burden is light. Preachers talk about what we should do and what we shouldn’t do. Jesus says to forsake all other beliefs and believe and live his gospel.
God knows a secret I hope we all eventually discover before we leave here.
“Good behavior will never produce correct belief, but… Correct belief will eventually produce good behavior.”
This is keeping one eye on heaven (Col 3:2), even if we feel like we are ‘under the circumstances.’
Beliefs have the power to impact us for the better or the worst, so choose beliefs that impact your life for the better. The GOSPEL does this!
