By: Cris Corzine-McCloskey

Jesus preached a radical message. He preached a Kingdom that was not under the influence of government, it was a Kingdom of power that operated on the love of the Father. He introduced God as a loving Father that wanted a relationship with sinful man. He said that God was for us, and He showed there was no length the Father would not go to, right down to the death of His Son, to have a relationship with us. He taught us that the way to joy in life is not to love our own life but to lay it down for the love of Him and others.

I don’t see this emphasized enough, and I think we have made the Good News more about a ticket to heaven and a blessed life than knowing God. When we do that, we will still get our ticket to heaven, but we miss the joy of the Christian experience. Why? Because the only place we truly find fullness of joy is in the presence of the Lord (Psalm 16:11). We need to bask in that presence as the source of life. When we live our faith with the attitude of what God can do for us, we have reduced the relationship to that of a genie in a bottle, and that often leaves us frustrated and bewildered.

I talk to people about the pain in their lives and horrific situations for a living. Many of us, when we are in such a state, question God’s love, and why He would allow such things in our lives. When we get stuck in that place we have let the pain of our circumstances rob us of the truth of the gospel. It says in Romans 5:8 that God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. In other words, the question of how God feels about you was settled at the cross. He had to love you, He sent His son to die for you.

Now, about those circumstances. This is also where I think we get confused. In our mind if something is pleasant and easy, we equate it as good. If it is painful and hard, it must be bad. Yet, as any gym rat will tell you, that’s bad theology, because it is often the hard things that transform us. I don’t believe God causes pain. He is the giver of life. But I do believe He redeems it by bringing good (Romans 8:28). When we look for God’s hand as the one that will cause good to come out of the pain and cultivate the relationship through it, we are transformed from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Let’s face it, most of us came in to the faith to escape something painful. For me, I was desperate and afraid, but He was gracious enough to meet me where I was at. Though selfishness may be our entry point, it is not where we have to stay. Jesus believed the best part of the Good News was offering us a way back to the Father. He thought that relationship being restored was worth His life. For myself, I have discovered that salvation is simply an entry point, and after that, like Dorthy opening that door and seeing Oz for the first time, the adventure of knowing God is where the fun is.

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