Continually Sharpening

A theological blog by Dr. Janelle Zeeb

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Why Doesn't God Make My Life Perfect?

One question I've heard frequently is:

"If God is love (1 John 4:16), then why doesn't God make my life perfect? Wouldn't that be a loving thing for him to do? Doesn't God want me to be happy, well-fed, safe, healthy, and rich? If not, then how can I trust Him with my eternal future? It's not like it would cost God anything to do all of this for me now, right?"

The idea that God should make every Christian's dreams come true in this life view might appear to be taught by certain passages of Scripture, such as:

  • "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." (Psalm 23:6)
  • "I have not seen the righteous forsaken, or his children begging for bread." (Psalm 37:25)
  • "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7:11)
  • "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4)

These sorts of verses are very popular among some churches that teach what is called the 'prosperity gospel', which claims that God does want Christians to have perfect lives right now. (Often, though, there is a catch where it is claimed one must donate money to said church before the blessings appear).1

However, more experienced interpreters of the Bible know that these verses are not necessarily promising Christians all of the worldly blessings that we could ever imagine.

For example, Psalm 37:4 clearly says that if we delight in God, then God will give us more of himself, because he is what we desire most. It's not referring to glamorous homes, fancy cars, expensive clothes, or luxurious tropical vacations.

Matthew 7:11 does suggest that we can ask God for whatever blessings we would like, just as children often ask their parents for things the children would like. But God, as our good and wise father, knows better than we do what is best for us. Thus, God will only give us what is truly good for us, rather than what we think is good for us.

However, rather than addressing such verses one-by-one, in this post I will share several different reasons why I think God does not make Christians' lives perfect right now.

I will also explain why, despite not solving all our problems or taking away our suffering in this life, God is still worthy of our love, trust, and ultimate allegiance regarding our eternal future.

God Doesn't Owe Sinners Anything

I believe the first thing we should remember when asking for things from God is that from one perspective, God doesn't owe sinners anything.

As I've argued in more detail elsewhere, when Adam and Eve first sinned, they effectively rejected God and wanted to be their own gods instead. But because God is love and the source of all goodness and existence (James 1:17), Adam and Eve also effectively chose the opposite of God, which is misery and death (Genesis 2:16-17, James 1:14-16). Thus, sin is always contrary to ultimate human happiness and true wellbeing.

The Bible teaches that since all people are descended from Adam and Eve, all people have also become sinners (Romans 3:23-24, 5:12). Christians, too, are sinners, and we will still be sinners our entire earthly lives (1 John 1:8, 1:10, Romans 7:22-25). And the only thing that sinners justly deserve is death (Romans 6:23).

So technically, God doesn't owe anyone anything, except for eternal death.

Therefore, anything good that sinful people still have or enjoy today is only because of God's mercy and grace. Acts 17:25 says that God gives us "life and breath and everything." Everything good in our lives is a gift from God (James 1:17, 1 Corinthians 4:7). Even the ability to work and earn a living comes from God.

Thus, who are we to demand that God must give us more than he already has? The fact that we are alive, have air to breathe, food to eat, water to drink, and (hopefully) clothing and shelter is already far more than we deserve. Therefore, we should be extremely grateful to God for giving us even the absolute basics that we need to survive.

Of course, God is even more generous than simply keeping us alive. God loves sinners so much that he was willing to send his only divine Son to be born as the man named Jesus, who would die on the cross to suffer the punishment of death that our sins deserved (John 3:16, 1 John 4:10, Romans 5:6-10), even though he himself had never sinned (1 John 3:5).

Now, anyone who simply believes that Jesus has died for his or her own sins is promised eternal life in a place that will be far better than anything we can currently imagine (John 6:40, 1 Corinthians 2:9).

And if God was willing to do that, then yes, we can trust that God also wants to give us all sorts of other things that he knows are good for us:

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

But receiving "all things" is not promised to happen for Christians this current life. It's something that we will receive in the future as an inheritance:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5)

Heaven is the best place for our inheritance to be, anyway, since there, this inheritance will not decay away like earthly possessions do, and it is at no risk of being stolen by anyone else (Matthew 6:19-20). The moment we believed in Jesus, we became qualified for this inheritance by being adopted into God's family as his children (Galatians 4:4-6), and the Holy Spirit sealed us to guarantee that we will one day receive this inheritance (Ephesians 1:13-14).

Christians are also promised that we will have not just this inheritance, but also heavenly rewards that will last forever, depending on how many good things we did for God in this life (1 Corinthians 3:11-15, Mark 9:41, Matthew 6:3-4, Luke 6:35).

Yet if God will give Christians all of these amazing blessings in heaven, then why won't he also give Christians everything we want in this life? I'll explain in the next section.

Blessings for Obedience?

One reason Christians can get confused about God giving us all sorts of blessings in this life is because of how in the Old Testament, God did make this sort of a promise to the people of Israel.

In Deuteronomy chapter 28, the Israelites were told that if they obeyed God and stayed faithful to his covenant with them, then they would receive all sorts of earthly blessings, including:

  • blessings on their crops and herds
  • blessings on their children
  • rain for their crops
  • financial prosperity
  • their enemies would fear them
  • victory over their enemies in battle

But on the flip side, if they disobeyed, then they would receive the opposite of those things:

  • pestilences and diseases would afflict them and their animals
  • their property would be destroyed or stolen by their enemies
  • no rain would fall which would lead to famines
  • they would need to take loans from foreigners
  • their enemies would defeat them in battle

The same general idea appears in the Psalms and Proverbs, also. For example,

  • "The Lord's curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the dwelling of the righteous." (Proverbs 3:33)
  • "Disaster pursues sinners, but the righteous are rewarded with good." (Proverbs 13:21)
  • "Blessed is the man who fears [i.e., respects and reveres] the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments! His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever." (Psalm 112:1-3)

Psalm 91 is also filled with promises of protection, even going so far as to claim that no evil will happen to those who trust God (e.g., Psalm 91:9-10).

Yet none of these promises are repeated in the New Testament to Christians. So why is this? Why wouldn't God bless Christians in this life in the same way that he blessed the people of Israel?

I think there are a number of reasons.

Israel's Repeated Failures

First, we can look at the Old Testament, and see that despite all the amazing promises God gave the Israelites, they still disobeyed God. Over and over and over again, the people would promise to obey God and follow God's laws, but usually within only a generation or two, they had begun worshipping idols and disobeying God's law.

Then God would punish them just as he promised by letting their enemies conquer them, or sending famines or pestilences, until the people would again cry out to God to save them from their enemies or problems. Finally, God would help them in one way or another, and the people would promise to be faithful again.

Until the next generation, when the pattern would start over. (Just read the book of Judges).

So this history shows that God promising people earthly blessings in exchange for their faithfulness to God does not have a track record of success.

Even Solomon—the wealthiest and most successful king of Israel—eventually disobeyed God and ended up worshiping idols (1 Kings 11:1-10).

Indeed, in one of the harshest critiques of ancient Israel, the prophet Ezekiel compared Israel to an unfaithful wife who goes out and works as a prostitute (Ezekiel 16:8-31). Yet instead of being paid by her lovers (who represented the foreign countries nearby Israel), she used the earthly blessings God gave her to pay for her lovers' attention (Ezekiel 16:32-34). God was obviously not pleased at all with this behavior.

Thus, given the failure of such promises of worldly blessings to guarantee Israel's faithfulness, it seems that God has decided to do things differently for Christians. After all, there is the saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting different results.

However, there are two more very plausible reasons why God does not bless Christians in the same way as he blessed certain faithful people in the past.

God Doesn't Want Gold Diggers: The Stories of Job and Abraham

In the Book of Job, we meet a man named Job who is said to be "blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil" (Job 1:1). He had been very blessed by God, and was extremely wealthy—even a billionaire, by today's standards (Job 1:3).

However, Satan believed the only reason why Job was faithful to God was because of all the earthly blessings that God had given Job. As a test of Job's faith, God allowed Satan to take away all of Job's blessings. Satan believed that this loss would convince Job to turn against God and curse God (Job 1:9-11).

So Job suffered a series of dramatic tragedies which killed his children and deprived him of his herds, but he didn't curse God. He seemed to accept the loss of these things as God's will, recognizing that everything he had came from God in the first place (Job 1:20-22).

But then Satan challenged God to let him attack Job's health, which God also agreed to (Job 2:4-6). So Job was struck with severe sores all over his body (Job 2:7-8). Even his wife told him that he should curse God, but Job still refused to do so (Job 2:9-10).

Three of Job's friends then showed up and argued that Job must have sinned in order to be experiencing such misfortunes, because everyone knows that God blesses those who are righteous and curses those who are wicked, right? But Job continually insisted that he had not sinned. This back-and-forth conversation goes on for many chapters.

Despite all of this, Job kept his faith in a coming Messiah who would redeem him and resurrect him on the last day (Job 19:25-27). So God told Job's friends to repent from what they said about Job, and rewarded Job by restoring the blessings God gave him (Job 42:7-17).

Thus, although it had a happy ending, I believe the main point of Job's story was to demonstrate that God wants people to be faithful to him regardless of whether they are currently being blessed or not.

Our faithfulness despite facing difficult circumstances shows that we truly want God and recognize our need for him. God doesn't want us to be spiritual 'gold diggers' who seek a relationship with him only for the immediate earthly benefits that he can bring us.

This approach of God not giving Christians everything we could ever want is also better for our testimony to non-Christians.

Imagine this: if God gave every Christian everything we had ever wanted and made our lives perfect the moment we believed in Jesus, then non-Christians who look at our lives would likely say the same thing that Satan did about Job: "Those Christians only love God because of all the blessings God gives them."

Futhermore, then non-Christians would only be motivated to turn to God to get these blessings, rather than because they recognize the infinitely greater gift which God has given us, which is sending Jesus to die for us so that we can have our sins forgiven and enjoy eternal life forever with God. This is the real reason why we should love God; not because God makes all our earthly hopes and dreams come true in this life.

We see the same thing in the story of Abraham.

What if you asked God for something incredibly amazing, and he gave it to you? Would you be able to give it up if God asked you to?

That was the dilemma that faced Abraham. He and his wife Sarah had never had a child of their own, but God had promised it would happen one day, so that Abraham would have many descendants (Genesis 15:5-6). This was the first test of Abraham's faithfulness, to see if he would wait patiently for that promised child and trust God's promise, even though he and his wife were both very old.

Unfortunately, Abraham failed this test when he took things into his own hands and had a son with Sarah's slave woman Hagar, which was not what God intended (Genesis 17:15-19).

Finally, when Sarah and Abraham did have a child named Isaac, then several years later, God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac to God by killing him on an altar.

Incredibly, Abraham was actually ready to go through with it. It seems Abraham had such faith in God's promise that he would have many descendants through his son Isaac that Abraham was convinced that God would bring Isaac back to life afterward (Genesis 22:5, Hebrews 11:17-19). Fortunately, God stopped Abraham before he harmed Isaac, however, Abraham did pass God's test (Genesis 22:12).

Abraham's actions proved that he loved God and wanted to obey God more than he wanted to cling to the amazing blessing of Isaac that God had given him. Otherwise, Abraham would have effectively turned Isaac into an idol that he loved more than he loved God.

Can we imagine being asked to do the same thing, and give up our most precious blessing that God has given us? I don't think many of us would want to be in Abraham's shoes (er... sandals).

Personally, I'd also rather have a lower level of earthly blessings than to end up facing a test like Job did, in order to prove that my faith in God and love for God is for the right reason.

God Leaves Room For Our Faith

A related reason why God does not make Christians' lives perfect now is because it would remove our need for faith in him.

Again, imagine if, as soon as we became a Christian, all of our difficulties disappeared and we received everything we could ever want. This miracle would be pretty blatant proof to both ourselves and others that God is real. But right now, God wants his people to have faith in him and his promises:

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

By definition, faith is not the same as actually seeing or having the things that God has promised us:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

Jesus said that people who have seen less evidence but still believe in him are more praiseworthy than those who have seen tons of evidence which convinced them to believe, such as the crowds who witnessed the miracles Jesus did when he was here on Earth, or the disciples who saw Jesus alive after his resurrection (John 20:29). For Christians today,

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:8-9)

So God allows Christians to have trials and difficulties in this life because it allows room for our faith to exist.

And God is surely aware of how much testing each of us needs to experience in order to show that our faith in God is genuine.

In Job's case, because he had so many earthly blessings to begin with, if he lost only a few of these blessings, would he have needed as much faith that God was still worthy of being loved and trusted?

So if God says he will test our faith, then in Job's case, it seems that Job's extreme blessings required an equally extreme trial. Therefore, maybe this is why God doesn't bless Christians with everything we wanted in this life, or we'd have to face trials like Job and Abraham had, too!

Trials and difficulties also refine and strengthen our faith, which makes it more precious and will result in great rewards (1 Peter 1:6-7). And remember, heavenly rewards that last forever are much more valuable than earthly material wealth which can be stolen or decay away (Matthew 6:19-20).

James even says that if we persevere in our faith despite the difficulties we face, then in the end, we will receive a special reward called the Crown of Life (James 1:12). Successfully holding on to our faith during small trials is what builds our endurance and helps us become spiritually mature so that we can hold on to our faith to the end of our lives, despite even more challenging situations that might come our way in the future (James 1:2-4).

Furthermore, trials can even draw us closer to God. I've heard some Christians say that they developed much closer relationships with God when they were undergoing difficult trials in life than when everything was going smoothly for them. This does make a lot of sense. For example, if we never had problems, would we pray as much as we do now? Honestly, I probably wouldn't. I might even start taking my blessings for granted, rather than appreciating the good things God has given me.

Thus, I believe that if there were no difficulties in our lives, there would be much less need for faith in God. But faith pleases God. So God leaves room in our circumstances for each of us to have faith, and teaches us to hold on to the amazing promises that we will experience in heaven, and to seek him even in the middle of our problems.

Christians holding on to our faith despite our troubles is also a strong witness to others around us.

In the first few centuries after Jesus ascended to heaven, the early Christians were persecuted in various ways. Yet incredibly, this persecution made even more people want to become Christians. Perhaps seeing Christians hold on to their faith despite what they suffered inspired others to think there really might be something to these Christians' beliefs, after all.

This historical fact led to a saying: "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church". The same truth is testified to by missionaries in challenging circumstances around the world today.2

Objection: Wouldn't Earthly Blessings Be A Better Way to Encourage Faith?

Now someone might argue that if God really wants everyone to be eternally saved (1 Timothy 2:3-4), then God would have a better success rate at getting people to believe in him if he would use earthly blessings as a sort of 'carrot' to convince unbelievers to put their faith in him regarding all the amazing promises God makes about eternal life and heaven.

Sort of a 'try before you buy' situation, right?

However, we've already seen that earthly blessings were not such a great way to convince the Israelites to be obedient to God in this life. If these blessings failed to encourage obedience, then it also seems likely that the same sorts of blessings would also fail at the task of persuading people to believe in God's promises regarding eternal life.

People could always doubt whether the blessing really came from God, or whether it was something else. They might also lose interest in God once they have whatever earthly blessing they asked for.

For example, rather than earthly blessings being an encouragement to people to put their faith in God, the Bible shows that earthly blessings can actually keep people from being interested in believing in God.

In Luke chapter 14, Jesus compared his invitation to people to enter God's kingdom to a man inviting people to attend a great wedding feast. In the similar parable in Matthew 22:1-10 the feast-giver is a king, and the wedding is for his son.

The man holding the feast first sends out invitations to people who appear to be the nobles or elite of society, but they all respond with excuses about why they can't come. One says they have just purchased some new property that they need to inspect, another says they need to try out their new teams of oxen. Another says they have just gotten married, and so they were... ahem... busy (Luke 14:16-19).

All of these things are good in themselves, and can be seen as blessings from God. However, these people prioritized and valued their earthly blessings more than God's invitation to them to come be part of his kingdom (Luke 14:15).

In response to this insulting behavior, in the parable, the man holding the banquet sends out invitations to those who are poor, disabled, or travelers, and they come to the feast instead (Luke 14:21-24).

Perhaps the reason why these people responded to the invitation was precisely because they were worse off than the nobles or 'elites'. To these less well-off people, the feast seemed like an amazing opportunity that they didn't want to miss out on.

This parable thus makes the same point as Jesus' interaction with the rich young man who couldn't make himself give up his many possessions in order to follow Jesus. After this encounter, Jesus told his disciples,

Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. (Matthew 19:23-24)

Perhaps this is so because people who are perfectly satisfied with how well their lives are going on Earth do not find the distant and unseen promises of heaven to be as attractive as the things they can see and experience right now. In contrast, for people who are facing difficulties and suffering in this life, these heavenly promises might be their only source of hope.

Also, just as in the case of the rich young man, highly blessed people might find turning to God very difficult if doing so might cost them those same blessings that they hold so dear.

And finally, just as with ancient Israel, it seems it may be more true that people tend to turn to God when times get tough and they realize they're at the end of their own abilities to solve their problems.

End-times Bible prophecy supports this argument. During the seven years of the upcoming Tribulation which will be the worst time in human history (Matthew 24:21-22), the Bible says that many, many people will be saved by turning to Jesus. Perhaps even on the order of billions of people might be saved, as John said he could not count them (Revelation 7:9-14), but John could clearly count into the range of hundreds of millions (Revelation 9:16, NRSVA).

These people would have been alive during the years before the Tribulation when life was generally normal like it is now, but they never believed in Jesus then, and so they missed going to heaven in the Rapture.

It seems for all these people, it will take seeing the Rapture and going through at least some of the terrible divine judgments of the Tribulation in order for them to finally wake up and realize that all the Raptured Christians were right: God exists, and Jesus is the only way for them to be eternally saved.

Christianity Is Not About Worldly Blessings

Just as Christianity is not about making us feel good about ourselves, Christianity is also not about giving us everything we could ever want in this life.

I like the CEV Bible translation's version of Paul's words which reads:

[Some] people think religion is supposed to make you rich. And religion does make your life rich, by making you content with what you have. We didn't bring anything into this world, and we won't take anything with us when we leave. So we should be satisfied just to have food and clothes. (1 Timothy 6:5-8, CEV)

Other translations substitute "godliness" for "religion," but the message of the verse is the same: being a Christian isn't going to automatically make you financially rich, or solve all your problems in life.

In fact, the early Christians suffered not only by being insulted, mistreated, or thrown in prison, but also by having their possessions stolen from them. Yet they rejoiced, because they knew they had something better waiting for them (Hebrews 10:32-34). The "something better" may refer to the promises we looked at earlier in this post, about the eternal rewards and inheritance in heaven that we can look forward to.

Even many faithful Old Testament figures personally suffered in ways that seem contrary to the promises given to Israel as a whole:

  • David was often on the run, hiding out in caves and the wilderness to avoid being killed by King Saul or other enemies (e.g., 1 Samuel 22:1-5, 23:15, 23:24-25, 23:29, 26:1).
  • Joseph was sold into slavery, falsely accused of a crime, and jailed in an Egyptian dungeon for years (Genesis 37:12-36, 39:1-23).
  • Elijah had to run for his life and hide in a cave to avoid being killed by the evil Queen Jezebel (1 Kings 19:1-8).
  • Jeremiah was beaten and put in stocks because he gave an unfavorable prophecy (Jeremiah 20:1-2).
  • Daniel was unjustly thrown into a den of hungry lions (Daniel 6:16-17).
  • Samson was captured by his enemies, blinded, and forced to do hard labor (Judges 16:21).
  • John the Baptist was unjustly jailed and later beheaded by a corrupt ruler (Matthew 14:3-10).

Or, as the author of Hebrews summarizes regarding even more examples of people who were commended for their faith:

Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:35-40)

Thus, throughout history, God's most faithful people have not been the ones who had perfect lives, but rather the opposite. Still, they demonstrated the same attitude as Job, "Though he slay me, I will hope in him" (Job 13:15), because ultimately, there is no other source of truth or eternal life besides God (John 6:68, Acts 4:12).

So it shouldn't be surprising to see the same pattern continue for Jesus' disciples in the New Testament:

  • Steven was stoned to death for preaching the gospel (Acts 7:54-58).
  • Peter and other disciples were imprisoned and beaten multiple times for doing miracles and preaching the gospel (Acts 5:17-40).
  • Many disciples were imprisoned (Acts 8:3).

And look at everything Paul said he endured while on his missionary journeys, starting churches and preaching the gospel:

Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. (2 Corinthians 11:24-27)

The same sorts of hardships, torture, imprisonment, and martyrdom continued during various times and places for early Christians in the Roman empire, until Christianity was legalized.3

Such treatment continues for Christians and missionaries around the world in countries which are hostile to Christianity.4 More stories could be found by looking into the lives of influential Christian figures throughout history.5

This all fulfills Jesus' warnings to his disciples that they will have trouble and difficulties in this world (John 16:33), and that because people hated Jesus, they would also hate his disciples and treat them similarly to how they treated Jesus (John 15:18-20, Matthew 10:24-25).

So why would God let this happen to his most faithful people?

I think the answer comes when we look at the difference in purposes and promises given to Israel and the Church.

The Purposes of Israel and the Church

As seen already, Israel as a whole was given particular promises regarding land and earthly blessings. These things were meant to inspire their obedience, so that they could serve God's purposes in the world.

They were supposed to be a special people who would be a blessing to the whole world (Genesis 12:1-3, 22:15-18), such as by acting as a light to the other nations around them regarding the truth of God and God's will for how people should live (Romans 2:17-20, 3:1-2). But when Israel disobeyed, God had to punish them in order so that they didn't continually give a bad witness about God to these same nations (Deuteronomy 29:21-28, Ezekiel 5:5-8, 5:14-17).

But the Christian's hope is not tied to receiving land, or descendants, or worldly blessings.

It's true that there are blessings that naturally come from being obedient to God's will for our lives and avoiding sin. However, these blessings are only because avoiding sin saves us from experiencing the suffering and difficulties that sin always brings into our lives sooner or later, which can even include an early death (James 1:15, 5:19-20).

Sometimes we suffer from our own unwise or sinful decisions, such as if we choose to break the laws of the countries we live in, and experience the just consequences of our actions (1 Peter 4:15). Sometimes, we might experience difficulties in our lives as a result of God 'disciplining' us when we've sinned, but that's because God cares for us and doesn't want us to do things that ultimately hurt ourselves and others (Hebrews 12:5-11, 1 Corinthians 11:32, Revelation 3:19).

But overall, the promises that God gives to Christians are primarily about eternal life which is a gift received via faith, not something earned based on obedience (Ephesians 2:8-9). Instead, as far as this life goes, Jesus gives Christians promises such as:

  • "I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)
  • "In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)
  • "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." (John 14:27)

As comforting as these may be, I believe that understanding the purpose for Christian's suffering in this world may also help us endure this suffering more patiently.

The key, I believe, is when Paul said:

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. (Colossians 1:24-26)

So in some strange way, Paul's sufferings were "filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions," specifically, with regard to the Church. This might seem like a very arrogant statement for Paul to be making, but it actually makes sense if we think about it.

Jesus' suffering and death on the cross was obviously the only thing which pays for sins. So Paul's suffering was not redemptive in the same sense as Jesus' was, and Paul's suffering was not helping pay for people's sins. However, Paul's suffering was 'redemptive' in a way because much of the suffering he experienced was in relation to his missionary activities of going around starting churches and preaching the gospel.

If he and other missionaries and evangelists had not been willing to endure the suffering that came along with this activity, then presumably, they would have stopped preaching. But then no one would have heard the gospel, or believed in Jesus and gained that eternal life which Jesus died to purchase for everyone (1 Peter 1:18-19, Revelation 5:9, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

As Paul so clearly summarizes:

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? (Romans 10:13-15).

Thus, without Christians being willing to preach the gospel and endure the suffering and difficulties that come along with doing that, whether to a greater or lesser extent, no one else would believe in Jesus or gain eternal life.

Therefore, whenever Christians suffer as a result of testifying about Jesus, that suffering can be called 'redemptive', and it can be seen as a supplement to Christ's own sufferings because without this supplemental suffering, no one else would be eternally saved.

And we are promised that if we suffer along with Christ in this way, that we will receive not just the inheritance that is promised to all Christians which we looked at earlier in this post, but we will also be counted as co-heirs with Christ himself:

It is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:16-17, NRSVA)

However, what about the other sorts of difficulties and suffering that Christians experience in this life? Can that sort of suffering also be 'redemptive'? After all, not every Christian is called to be a missionary, pastor, or evangelist. Many of us are also fortunate that we live in countries where we aren't openly persecuted for our faith.

Although it may seem strange, I do believe that all the little difficulties and problems and issues and sufferings that Christians experience in life can indeed be 'redemptive', provided we handle them correctly.

If we can keep a cheerful attitude despite the problems in our lives, despite the physical suffering we might experience as a result of injuries or illnesses, and despite not being as wealthy or successful as we'd hoped, this will stand out to the unbelievers around us.

They will wonder why it is that we're enduring the same sorts of problems as they are, yet, we seem much less emotionally bothered by our difficulties. Instead of being grumpy, bitter, or angry when problems and suffering come our way, we can instead be patient and at peace, and treat others around us with love.

Then others who see us behaving this way might be inspired to ask us why we respond so differently to these problems than they do. And this would give us a perfect opening to share the gospel.

After all, the primary reason we can react differently to these difficulties is because we have the promise of eternal life to look forward to. Living forever in a perfect new body (1 Corinthians 15:42-49), in custom-made eternal mansions (John 14:1-3, KJV), in a place where there is so much wealth that the walls and streets are made of gold and the foundations are made of precious gemstones (Revelation 21:18-21) will forever outweigh all the suffering we experience here:

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. (Romans 8:18)

Thus, all things really can be said to work together for good, for those who love God (Romans 8:28). And this means that Psalm 91:9-10 is indeed ultimately true for Christians, due to this heavenly inversion that transforms our temporary earthly suffering into eternal rewards and blessings.

And as I've written about more in another post, suffering can even be useful for Christians in a variety of ways.

As one example, it equips Christians to have sympathy for others who are suffering in the same sorts of ways as we have suffered, and thereby equips us to minister to them and care for them better than others who have not suffered in such a way (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

Christians' suffering can also prepare us to meet Jesus face to face. For example, Paul says that Christians who love and long for Jesus' appearing at the Rapture will earn a special eternal crown (2 Timothy 4:8).

But if our lives here are going too well, we might not want them to be interrupted. Instead, we might hope the Rapture will happen sometime later—perhaps after our next vacation, after we graduate university or college, after we've gotten married, or even not until much later, after our children are grown and we've seen their weddings and our grandchildren's weddings.

Yet Christians who are facing trying times would likely be much more eager for Jesus to come back and take us to heaven, in order to be rescued from our problems and suffering. For Christians in the midst of suffering, the Rapture truly is a blessed hope that they long for every day (Titus 2:13). If our temporary problems inspire us to long for Jesus' return and earn eternal rewards as a result, then perhaps we should be grateful that God did not make our lives better right now.

Wealth Is Spiritually Dangerous

A final reason reason why God might not bless Christians with everything we desire is because even to believers, financial blessings can be a potential risk to the quality of our spiritual lives.

Jesus said,

No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Luke 16:13)

Judas is a prime example of a follower of Jesus who gave into the temptation to prioritize money over God when he accepted money in exchange for betraying Jesus (Matthew 26:14-16).

Paul also warns,

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. (1 Timothy 6:9-10)

In the end, wealthy people who have abused their wealth will face God's judgment, as James warns:

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you. (James 5:1-6)

So that's pretty harsh, but it does accurately portray how some wealthy people in the world have gained their riches not through divine blessing, but by exploiting and abusing others. Hopefully, true Christians would never behave in such a way.

Even the charge of living a life of luxury and self-indulgence would likely make Christians feel ashamed of ourselves when we face Jesus, when we consider how much of a difference we could have made to others' lives by giving generously to good causes. Indeed, early Christians were noted for how they were very generous and shared everything they had with other Christians who were in need (Acts 2:44-47).

In contrast, Jesus criticized the church of Laodicea for mistaking their physical wealth and prosperity as a sign of divine blessing, when actually, they were spiritually lukewarm and disgusting to Jesus (Revelation 3:15-17). Conversely, the persecuted church of Smyrna was poor and afflicted with many troubles, but Jesus said they were rich (Revelation 2:8-11).

In the case of Smyrna, the richness would refer to the quality of the Smyrnaean Christians' spiritual lives, such as their relational closeness to Jesus, and perhaps the quantity of heavenly rewards they were earning. In comparison, Jesus said he was knocking on the door of the Laodicean church just to try to get in, which shows these Christians were not very spiritually close to him at all (Revelation 3:20).

Thus, these are just some examples about how mistaken attitudes toward wealth can cause problems for Christians. If we don't have tons of earthly wealth, maybe we should be grateful that God has also spared us from these sorts of potential spiritual dangers.

God Does Promise Us Enough

In the meantime, however, God does promise that he will care for Christians:

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. (Luke 12:22-31)

Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, "I will never fail you. I will never abandon you." So we can say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?" (Hebrews 13:5-6)

However, these verses still do not prove that Christians will never suffer by being homeless or hungry. These verses don't mean we will never be mistreated or hurt by evil people. Yet God still knows what we're going through, and ultimately, keeping our faith in God's goodness and love for us despite our circumstances (like Job did) is what truly matters:

Dear friends, don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot do any more to you after that. But I’ll tell you whom to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill you and then throw you into hell. Yes, he’s the one to fear. What is the price of five sparrows—two copper coins? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows. (Luke 12:4-7, NLT)

So again, God does allow Christians to suffer from various problems and difficulties in this life. But since God is perfectly good and loves us and knows everything we're going through, we can trust that there is some greater purpose behind our suffering, even if we can't see it now. A good and loving God wouldn't allow us to suffer if there were absolutely nothing good at all that could come from it (Romans 8:28).

It could be that sometimes, our temporary suffering that God permits us to experience is only our doorway to heaven, where God will wipe away every tear we ever cried, and there will be no more problems or suffering at all (Revelation 21:4). Thus, Christians should not fear death.

Furthermore, there is always the chance that the Rapture could happen at any moment. When that happens, all true Christians who are currently alive will instantly become immortal and will be taken to heaven without dying (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18, 1 Corinthians 15:51-57).

Given that today, almost all the signs of the end times are here, we can be encouraged that all our difficulties and suffering could end at any time (Luke 21:28). This hope should give us the courage to keep hanging on, no matter how difficult life gets before then.

Conclusion

I hope this post has shown that when Christians experience difficulties and our lives are not perfect, we shouldn't complain that God is being unloving or unjust.

Unlike ancient Israel, Christians are never promised that God will give us all sorts of earthly blessings. And as we saw in this post, although these promises applied to Israel as a whole to encourage their obedience to God, it did not necessarily apply to every individual Israelite—especially some of the most faithful ones.

For Christians, God has set things up differently. Earthly blessings are not guaranteed in exchange for obedience, because God wants people who will love and trust him despite our external circumstances. Yet for Christians, our obedience and good works will be eternally rewarded, which is far better than having temporary earthly blessings, anyway.

Thus, whether our earthly blessings come or go, like Paul did, we can say,

I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.(Philippians 4:11-13, NLT)

But in general, Christians are promised that God will care for us in this life so that we can have the basics of what we need to live.

And honestly, if we're living in North America or Europe, chances are that God has given us far more than just the basics. Thus, we should always be grateful for these blessings, and not get upset that God hasn't given us even more.

Furthermore, because of our hope of heaven and all the incredible things we'll get to have and experience there, Christians can have a significantly different attitude toward when our lives aren't perfect.

By demonstrating patience, peace, and trust in God despite the problems in our lives right now, we are testifying to our faith to those around us.

By having patience and faith in God despite our difficulties, we are also showing God how much we love him—not because he gives us everything we want right now, but because of how Jesus died for our sins so that we can have eternal life.

Thus, even if we have a life here that is nothing but difficulty and suffering, eternal life in heaven will make our faith in Jesus Christ infinitely worth it.

Believing in Jesus is easy, and if you haven't yet trusted in him for eternal life, you can read my short post about how to have eternal life. Then, if you would like to learn more about what promises Christians can look forward to in heaven, see my post here.

Footnotes:

Tags: theodicy, persecution, suffering, prosperity gospel
Older: The Symbolism of the Beast From the Sea

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