Misleading promises

Thursday April 15, 2021

I have learned to be happy with my situation. I know how to live in poverty and I know how to live in abundance. Everywhere and in all circumstances I have learned to be full and to be hungry, to be in abundance and to be in need. I can do anything through him who strengthens me, Christ. Philippians 4.11-13

Misleading promises

For some time now, someone who calls himself a Christian has been sending messages on his smartphone that look something like this : "Today your wallet will be full and your health will be good. All your dreams and aspirations will be fulfilled, your plans will work. Have a good day. God bless you."

An existence free from all worry, where all the doors open and where everything is arranged for the best, is this really what God promises to the Christian ? If so, what if I have an accident, get sick or lose my job ? Should we deduce from this that God is punishing me or forsaking me, or that he is depriving me of his blessing ? Or that I lack faith ?

Such a view of Christianity is wrong. It runs the risk of confusing Christians whom God judges to be bogus to pass through difficult situations.

Simply reading the New Testament shows us many Christians facing all kinds of trials and difficulties. Didn't the apostle Paul himself know hunger, cold, shipwrecks, prison, etc. (2 Corinthians 11.23-27) ?

Christians, our blessings are in heaven with Christ. God trains us on earth, he directs the circumstances of our life and wants to make his love known to us in difficult times. We will know him then as "the Father full of compassion and the God of all comfort !" (2 Corinthians 1.3). This not for an earthly and transient well-being but for our true good, celestial and eternal !

Source (The Good Seed)