Ever feel stuck? In a rut? I heard a well-known Christian speaker state recently that there should be no such thing as an unhappy Christian. They said that we should never use the words ‘unhappy’ and ‘Christian’ in the same sentence. On the surface, that sounds right, but it’s easy to say something like that when you’re doing what you love to do for a living and making quite a bit of money in the process. My focus is not so much on the money, but, let’s face it, too often we think that we shouldn’t use the words ‘money’ and ‘Christian’ in the same sentence either. I think that what this speaker probably intended was to say that Christians should not live unhappy lives. Do we get unhappy? Sure we do. We live in the same world as everyone else. The difference is that we don’t live unhappily.
Unfortunately for some Christians, they are not doing what they love to do for a living. They are stuck in a dead-end job that brings no fulfillment, they struggle to make ends meet every month, they have families, school functions and then they also volunteer at church. The fact is that we all live in the same world and face the same daily situations, whether we’re Christians or not. We all have stuff in our lives, from the mega-church pastor to the sunday school teacher to the worship leader to the pew warmer. Even the speaker mentioned above. Everyone has something going on in their lives. But there should be a difference between how Christians face their stuff and how non-believers face theirs.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus has once again offended the Pharisees. He has just healed a blind man on the Sabbath. In answering the Pharisees accusation that He has broken the Law, Jesus answers that He entered the world to bring judgement – not only to give sight to the blind, but to show those who think they can see that they are really blind. Then in Chapter 10, He goes into a story about how anyone who does not come into the sheepfold by the gate is a thief. He explains that those who came before Him were thieves because they were false teachers, like the Pharisees. Then in verse 10, He says this, speaking about His sheep: “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” My focus is drawn to the last part of that verse. Jesus says that while false teachers come to steal and kill and destroy, Jesus has come to give us a ‘rich and satisfying life’. Do you know any Christians that are living a rich and satisfying life? I know a few, but they seem to be fewer than the ones living a miserable life. How do we reconcile a rich and satisfying life with a dead-end job, problems with our marriage and bills that seem to pile up? I think it’s a matter of faith.
Faith is a word that has taken a bad rap because of its mis-use. God is not some genie in a bottle that grants our every wish simply because we have faith that He can or will. God is still God. However, the correct application of faith has everything to do with the statement that Jesus made. Hebrews 11:6 says that we must not only believe that God exists, but that we must believe that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. You see, those who diligently seek Him not only know about God. They know God. Knowing God’s character changes everything for a Christian. Diligently seeking God means that one has spent a great deal of time in the Bible, since it is God’s Word to man. They have also spent a great deal of time in worship, since worship is where we get to know God intimately. They have also spent a great deal of time in prayer, since prayer is how we communicate with God. Like any other relationship, a person does not generally get to the point of knowing God in the first 6 months of salvation. It takes time. But then, so does life. By spending time with God through the Bible, worship and prayer, we learn God’s character. It is through this knowledge that we react to life’s challenges differently.
Are you in a dead-end job? As a Christian, you are aware of the story of Joseph, who was unfairly sold into slavery, but ended up becoming the 2nd most powerful man in Egypt – the superpower of the day. You know the story of Abraham, who left his family and everything that was familiar to him and followed God even though God didn’t give him a map. I could mention all kinds of things we deal with – marriage problems, money difficulties, family dynamics – the list could go on for pages. The point is that Christians are aware of the vast love that God has for us. Sending His Son was one of the ways that He demonstrated that love. We know that God genuinely cares about our day-to-day lives. He cares about our dead-end job, our financial difficulties, our relationship problems. He knows about all of them, and He cares. That knowledge alone should be enough for us to experience the rich and satisfying life that Jesus came to give us. Our purpose extends far beyond the borders of our job, our family or even our lives. I know so many Christians who praise loudly in church on Sunday and then talk about how they don’t know if they are going to make it on Monday. Unfortunately, those around them are well aware of both their profession of faith in God and their lives of unbelief. This is what James meant when he said “faith, by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (James 2:17)
Faith is really just taking God at his word. It is knowing the character of God so well that you can trust him to be there even in the most mundane parts of your life. Sometimes it means getting a new perspective on your circumstances. Take the apostle Paul for example. Paul oftentimes had to work to support himself. He said in 2 Thessalonians 3:8 that he “worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you”. But how does he describe himself to those to whom he writes? As a tentmaker? No. He is Paul, an apostle in Galatians. He is Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus in Romans. He is Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus in Colossians. Maybe some of us need to remind ourselves that we are not John, stuck in a job we hate. We are John, a disciple of Jesus Christ called to lead a small group. We are not Chris, working third shift for minimum wage. We are Chris, a disciple of Jesus Christ called to play the drums and lead the people of God into his presence.
Faith is more than blind belief. It is standing on what you know to be true, even if circumstances tell you differently. It is knowing that because of Jesus, our joy is complete (John 15:11). It is being “Joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer (Romans 12:12). It is being ” …hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed (2 Cor. 4:9-10). Knowing that “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:16). It is living as if these things were true, because they are.
It’s time we got our joy back. Too many Christians are living a defeated, depressed life. That’s not the life that Jesus died to give us. We belong “To him who is able to keep [us] from falling and to present [us] before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy…“