Why God Might Not Have Plans To Prosper You And Keep You Safe

The following is from Martin Saunders. I could not of said this nearly as well as he has so I leave it to him.

If you're looking for an inspirational, heart-warming verse in the Bible, they don't come much more Hallmark than Jeremiah 29:11

It's one of the most popular verses in the Bible, bringing comfort to millions every day. It's a wonderful, warm sentiment, which has spawned a veritable industry of bookmarks, posters and mugs. It is pinned to refrigerator doors all over the world, a source of daily encouragement that 'God is in control.' Most Christians will know it well:

"For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you a hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11).

What Does Love Look Like Here?

Nearly every day we find ourselves in situations where we feel offended, devalued, cheated, unjustly treated, slighted, ignored, annoyed by someone else’s behaviour, taken advantage of and more. Or we are in the presence of others who experience such actions against them. Often our first response to such situations is rightly to be upset, even angry, for such behaviour is wrong. However, how we decide to respond to our feelings is pivotal to what happens next. 

Discipleship Is Slow

We live in a hurry up world where we want things quickly. We have given this desire a nice label: effectiveness. In order to be effective we set goals and then design systems, tools and processes to accomplish our goals. The effectiveness of these systems, tools and processes are then measured against the goals and how quickly they are fulfilled. Unfortunately this value of effectiveness and its outworking has greatly influenced how we understand discipleship.  In his book "Subterranean, Why the Future of the Church is Rootedness", Dan White Jr. puts it this way:

Our location in a postindustrial, Western, efficiency-oriented economy has influenced our framework for ministry. We are conditioned to think in terms of verifiable, stock-market-type results, seeing churches like machines. We tweak this program and adjust that program, add some marketing, crunch the numbers, and produce results––a "if you do this, you get that" mentality.1 

Living By the Hierarchy of Love vesus the Hierarchy of Power

And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”  Mark 9:33-37

We can easily miss the impact of what Jesus did and said to his disciples in this passage from our Western context. Yes we see that he is making the point of the difference between what it means to follow Him versus the ways of the world, between seeking position and being humble. But this wasn’t just a little lesson or correction in their thinking. Jesus was turning their world upside down, completely deconstructing a massively ingrained and accepted way of how societies functioned, of how worth and value of attributed to people.

So What?

Recently I had a conversation with a Christian businessman regarding his witness and walk with Jesus. He is what I would call a FAD Christian: Frustrated and Disenchanted. Like many Christians he has pursued what is popular in church, serving, Bible studies, evangelistic courses, training seminars, conferences and so forth. Yet he was failing to see the point of it all as he saw little difference in his life and that of others. How is it that someone and many others like him can have so much Biblical and training input yet find themselves asking so what? What difference does it make in everyday life other than being a moral and nice person?

The Way of Love

I think sometimes that we have lost our way in the Western church. It seems the most important thing is growing in our Biblical knowledge. Biblical knowledge is essential to our faith but it seems that growing in Biblical knowledge has for many become the measure of their Christian growth. Sadly it is not and I know of many extremely Biblically knowledgeable people whose lives leave much to be desired. Biblical knowledge is not the way of Jesus.

Images Vs Real People

Where ever we go today we are continually bombarded with images of beautiful people, celebrities, sport stars, people who have “made it” through the media. The message that comes with these images is that these are the people who you should be like, who we should aspire to emulate, the people by whom we should measure our own worth. Many of us may deny this, saying to ourselves that they mean nothing to us yet I think if we look deep within ourselves we would discover a longing that we could be as beautiful, popular, athletic, successful, articulate, influential, etc. as they are.  Many of us may feel that our lives aren’t all that consequential, that we are just making the best of it, doing our duty, maybe making little contributions here and there but for the most part as we look back on our lives little if anything really stands out.