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I have a general policy to never live in a nation where the leader’s face is plastered all over the place. That policy extends to reading books. I really do not like books with a picture of the author on the cover. It creeps me out. Anyway, this book came highly recommended by a good friend and I am currently reading through it. It’s an encouraging book that deals with the grace of Jesus and living in that grace, a concept that we will be exploring more as we explore the teachings of Jesus and the Gospels in the next year. I would definitely pass this book on to anyone that needs encouragement, but with this caveat. Like many teachers of the health and wealth gospel, Prince, despite all of the positive teachings he brings to the table, does his readers a disservice. I agree with him that we need to be more positive in life, filled with the joy of the Spirit, live in grace rather than works, and that God desires to bless his children. What parent does not want to see the best for their children?But we live in a fallen world with free will. The world is no longer what God intended it to be and we continue to live in sin.
Notice that Paul did not write that all things will be good, that there will be no bumps in the road. No, Paul wrote that all things, whether good or bad, will work together for good. God is in the business of making good things out of bad. If he can have the earth squeeze coal and make diamonds, he can turn your difficulties into a better you.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).
Life is not a bed of roses, even for the most faithful. Our ministry at the Manor House, the only nursing home in Antwerp, reminds me of that truth every week. We might believe that the spiritual realm is more important than the physical, but that does not mean we can escape the physical without being physically destroyed. No matter how much we focus on the spiritual reality of the victory that we have, we will each physically die. If we live long enough, we will also have loved ones die.
I believe that God still heals; I believe that a positive attitude can get us through most obstacles, but I am also a pragmatist. Tragedy strikes everyone, and it is a disservice to the gospel to not temper the blessings of God and following him with the tragic reality we are all faced with. What makes a Christian is not living in this physical world without any strife or trouble. What makes us like Jesus in our approach to the world in responding to those difficulties with perseverance and seeking out God’s will through the troubling times. We can control, through the grace of Jesus, whether we let the world’s difficulties tear us down or whether we keep focused on living in his grace and his ultimate reality. The question we each face is how will we respond when loneliness, financial difficulties, broken relationships, health problems, or tragedy strikes. I pray that I will face those times with Jesus leading the way through.
