Would you still choose Jesus if the only benefit was the redemption of the cross and the promise of heaven?
About a year ago I was sitting in a coffee shop with a dear friend of mine. At the time we were both walking out what we would describe as one of the worst seasons of each of our lives. For me, it involved my child. For her, it was her marriage. As we sat there sipping our coffee with eyes brimmed with tears, I suggested to her, "What if it never gets easier? What if our prayers don't get answered as we would expect, and we have to live the remainder of our life walking through this difficult journey? Would we still choose Jesus? Would we still think Him to be a good father?" I was realizing at that time, in that desperate season, that Jesus had already paid the price for me at the cross. By doing so, He granted me opportunity to have a relationship with Him, and my greatest reward is the promise of Heaven. What more can I anticipate? Would I still choose God if the blessings and answered prayers were gone?
Jesus already died for us, what more can we expect?
And yet, we do expect more. We ask, and we ask, and we ask some more of Him. I fear Gods people spend more time pleading for things rather than praising Him for all He's already done. We can be found praying for one thing, receiving our answer, praising Him for but a moment, then onto the next prayer request. God doesn't owe us anything and yet He is still so gracious and loving to continue to answer our petitions. Not out of obligation, but out of His deep, unconditional, agape love which we could never comprehend. He cares for us so sincerely that we are told to come boldly and ask anything in His name!
I sit here now imagining how different the Bible would be if certain men and women gave up on God when things didn't seem so "blessed". My examples are out of the Old Testament before Jesus even entered the scene, which speaks volumes of the extra level of faith they required. I am certain Joseph wondered where God was when he was tossed in a pit and sold by his own brothers. If not then, how about when he was put in prison for an action he didn't even commit. He had just been dreaming of the platform God would give him, and now, time and time again, he's being cast down and persecuted instead. Had he quit believing in Gods faithfulness, he never would have experienced his dreams come to reality by finally becoming a ruler over the land. What if Esther lacked the faith to go speak to the King, risking her life for her people, when it seemed too hopeless to bother trying. Instead she fasted and prayed, believing God had created her for exactly this purpose. Had she given up hope in God an entire people group would have been annihilated. Or, imagine if Israel really did give up in the wilderness. They contemplated going back to Egypt and literally back to bondage because the promised land no longer appeared so divine and fruitful. It was too difficult a journey to endure. Had they turned back on God, they never would have made it to the promised land which would have resulted in suffering for all generations to come.
We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character, hope. Romans 5:3-4
When Christ gave His life for us, He was interested in more than just a connection based on what he could do for us. The God I know was more interested in hearts. He longs for an actual relationship with His people and not just lip service. He wants disciples willing to go and do anything in His name, simply out of their deep love for Him.
Our relationship was never meant to be based on circumstances or benefits.
He offers us the reward of heaven when all we deserve is hell. Anything further is added grace and blessing from a perfect heavenly father!
Maybe you are wondering why He would allow suffering if He is such a good God? I have asked this myself in my deepest emotions. Then I question how we can be so selfish when we could all be on our way to hell? We yearn for the guarantee of an easy life, but He assures us in His word that life here on earth will most definitely be hard! There will absolutely be persecution and long-suffering as a part of life. However, He provides us with all the tools we need to endure this life, never leaving or forsaking us. Furthermore, perhaps the very things we see as curses are in fact some of our greatest blessings.
Going back to my coffee shop moment. God has since then provided a momentary victory, though my guard is never down. I now realize, it is during that season, my faith grew more in one year than it had in 14 years of my relationship with Him. For that outcome I look back with a grateful heart. He allowed me to walk a road knowing it would draw me closer to Him. Not only that, but to make me more like Him, which I consider to be the ultimate goal of life here on earth. He was always in control. God is faithfully turning things around for our good, usually before we are able to notice. However, before I was able to see all of these results so clearly I had decided I was going to love Him anyway. I had already purposed in the depths of my heart that my confidence in Him was not going to be shaken. I had decided that I knew my God's character and goodness despite the screaming tensions and fears all around me.
My faith met Jesus at the cross and decided that action alone was enough for me.
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them. Romans 8:28
We are to be a people who love and serve our God, not for what He can do for us, but for what He has already done.
So I ask you, friend, to consider my question. Would you still choose Jesus? If you have breath in your lungs, then life is painful; but, it is all the more challenging without Christ. So I encourage you to choose Him. Commit to Him every single day. Desire Him every moment of your life, and choose Him with all your heart! Take up your cross, and follow Him. Then the blessings, grace and benefits do most certainly come!
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working in us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Romans 4:8-9; 16-18