Many people see the Christian life as a linear walk with God on a clear and obvious path. But as soon as problems or difficulties arise they start to question their perception of the Christian life. Walking with God is easy as long as there is no real suffering involved. It’s very easy to get used to being a Christian when there is minimal difficulty or effort involved. Christians often think that there is a higher purpose to suffering and that there always will be a happy ending to every sad story. We expect that time heals all wounds and that Christ eliminates all our problems. Time doesn’t heal all wounds but all wounds need time to heal. We often anticipate a resurrection moment in our problems, where Christ’s glory will shine through the darkness of this world. But what we forget is that there are very often bad endings here on earth. There is not always a happy ending to a sad story. Some stories end with an even sadder ending. Some storms in life end very quickly and suddenly, others take a long time to calm and some storms in life never end. Life is full of storms and suffering and although we do not know whether God will calm certain storms in our life and how long the storms will last, we know that there will be no storms in heaven. There will be a time for all of us, who believe in Jesus, when all suffering and pain is gone. We have an eternal hope and we should share this hope. We do not need to be afraid because we have Jesus in this life and for all eternity. Life can be a drama and a tragedy. But there is always hope because there is a heaven. Christ’s ultimate goal is that we abide in Him so that He can live through us and so that His image can be seen through us. He wants us to become more and more like Him. He wants us to bring much fruit and be a light in the darkness. The purpose of our pain is the fellowship of His sufferings and the conformity to His death (Philippians 3,10). There is a powerful resurrection but we have to wait for it. The waiting for the resurrection can be pretty exhausting when the desire of our heart is something else than being conformed to the image of Christ.
People desire purpose and meaning in life. But they often confuse the desires of their hearts with God’s plan for their life. God wants people to be like His son. Everything in life can help us to become more like Jesus but very often we do not desire to be more like Jesus. We all have certain desires in our hearts that we think of as given by God. A lot of people tend to think that they are able to understand their own motives. Most people think of self-deception as something that only other people have to deal with. They think that they are immune against any sort of self-delusion. But when things go wrong and unexpected events occur they are disillusioned. Walking with God is sometimes ambiguous. The differentiation between walking on God’s paths and walking on our own path isn’t always straightforward. Do we really know whether the desires of our hearts are given to us by ourselves or given to us by God? Do we really see the difference between the will of God and our own selfish will? Are we really completely surrendered to God or do we try to find meaning and purpose in somebody or something else?
The devil can easily sow doubts and discouragement when we are faced with difficulties and frustrating circumstances or even personal failures. Even spiritual giants like John the Baptist had doubts (Luke 7,19). When Paul travelled on his last journey to Jerusalem the Holy Spirit told him through different people complete opposites of whether he should go to Jerusalem or not (Acts 21,4). His journey to and through suffering was confusing. Contradictory advice helps us to recheck our motives and our calling. Seemingly or obviously bad advice is triggering prayers and thought processes in order to prepare us for the battle ahead. It helps us to later know that we considered all those facts and thoughts and did not make a thoughtless decision. Praying and fasting through the confusion in advance guards us against the confusion in hindsight. Considering different options helps us to really close the door on every wrong option. Disappointment has a cleansing effect. It cleanses us from false assumptions. It’s a false expectation that God’s path is always delightful and without any confusion.
It is ridiculous to think that there is only meaning and happiness in life when we have Jesus. A lot of people live a happy and meaningful life although they do not believe in Jesus.
“For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself.” V. Frankl
“For the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth – that love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way – an honorable way – in such a position man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment.” V. Frankl
Frankl found fulfillment in the worst circumstances through loving his wife. Dedication to a greater cause or surrender to another person can provide fulfillment. It is possible to find meaning and fulfillment without Jesus. But it is not possible to find eternal life without Jesus. People can live a happy and meaningful life without Jesus but they cannot have eternal life without Jesus. We can find happiness in the surrender to another person. This person must not necessarily be Jesus. There is meaning and purpose in love, because God has put meaning and purpose in love. But there is no salvation in love, because God only has put salvation in Jesus. Jesus is the only way to salvation. He is not the only way to happiness or meaning in this life but the only way to happiness and meaning in the eternal life. Not every Christian has a meaningful and happy life. A lot of Christians are confused about their discipleship. They thought believing in Jesus would guarantee a feeling of purpose and meaning. There is purpose and meaning in Jesus. But there is only purpose and meaning in Jesus if there is only Jesus. We cannot find fulfillment in Jesus when we are searching for fulfillment somewhere else. We can find joy and happiness without Jesus but if we want joy and happiness in Jesus we need to surrender to Jesus. Only through loving Jesus can there be eternal joy, happiness, meaning and purpose.