Believing Lies

One of the reasons my blog posts are coming maybe once a week, when I wish they were coming more frequently is because we've been busy with our move and getting settled in. But to be honest, as I always try to be on my blog, I haven't been in the right place to write.

My faith is in a different place these days. A place it's never been before. My faith is being challenged and is struggling yet I'm clinging on to it desperately - and I'm learning to cling to truths and not lies. To be honest, I've been in a pretty low place lately. To keep it simple I'll just say that on top of the 'stressors' I've been dealing with in this past year (the most well-known being the death of my daughter), this recent PCS (move) of ours and my husband's pending deployment have been pretty difficult for me so far.

This weekend, it became pretty clear to me that much of my struggle with my faith lately has been due to a conflict between what I know and have learned to be true about God and what others preach and believe to be true.

So first, I'd like to talk about blessings. What does it mean to be blessed by God? What is a blessing? Who is blessed? Have you ever really asked yourself those questions? They're actually difficult to answer, especially if you're looking for what the words mean in the Bible.

Our society likes to believe if you're wealthy, healthy, prosperous, have a good family, a good job, and so on and so forth, you're blessed. But that line of thought regarding blessings is incorrect and in fact is actually harmful if those of us who don't experience those things; it causes us to feel like for some reason God isn't blessing us but is punishing us. For instance, when a couple has a healthy baby everyone tells them how blessed they are. So what about me? I had a baby who was sick and died... does that mean I was punished? That God didn't want to bless me? I don't necessarily think so, but that's the pitfall that those popular misconceptions can lead to.

A blessing can mean receiving favor from God. But then how do we know what God's favor is? Maybe the person who is given a healthy baby does receive a blessing from God. But maybe the person who is given a sick baby who dies can also still receive a blessing from God... maybe the baby was a blessing, maybe the blessings came in the form of strength and comfort from God to make it through the grief.

Being blessed by God or being a follower of God doesn't mean that God will remove all problems and hardships from your life. If everything seems to be going right for you while problems seem to be piling up on the doorstep for me, does that mean you're blessed and I'm not? Does that mean I must have done something wrong, God's punishing me, God doesn't love me? Absolutely not.

So maybe a blessing is God's favor resting on us, but you have to really think about what that might actually look like. But maybe a blessing is something that draws us closer into his love. Have you ever thought about a blessing in that way?

All I know is that I'm tired of the way people use the word blessed, Christians and non-Christians alike. My main point being that blessings do not necessarily equal health, wealth, prosperity, lack of problems, etc. And if you have those things, that doesn't mean that God loves you more than the person who doesn't have those things. I think people need to redefine how they think of being blessed.

Second, I'd like to talk about God's promises. God's promises are indeed promises and true. However, not all promises may apply to you or I in any given circumstance, and many promises are promises regarding eternal life for believers - promises that will be fulfilled in Heaven, not while we're alive here on earth.

There are many examples from scripture where God healed the sick, saved people from their enemies, rescued people from other dire situations, and so on. Many Christians turn these snippets of scripture into promises that they expect God to perform in their own lives. However, that creates problems and draws questions like: Why didn't God heal my child? Why didn't God heal my dad's cancer? Why didn't God rescue my soldier for his enemy? Why am I the wife whose husband doesn't return from a deployment? There must be something wrong with me. God must not be living up to his promises. God must not love me. God must be punishing me. Again, that line of thinking is dangerous and based on lies we believe.

God does heal and rescue and save and perform miracles. However, nowhere in his word does he say he will heal every believer's illness or answer every prayer for healing or provide protection so no one ever dies. Our world is filled with sickness, death, and evil; that's our fallen world. So God doesn't promise to remove those things from the equation, at least not here on earth in this life. Some day God will remove those things once and for all, but many of the promises given in scripture that people misunderstand are meant to be fulfilled in our (believers) lives in heaven. God will save all who believe in him. But make sure you understand that he won't necessarily save us from all life's problems or death, but he will save us from eternal separation from him, and we will experience the ultimate healing in heaven.

Many Christians tell stories of how their lives were full of problems and terrible before Christ, and when they came to Christ their lives were suddenly turned around and became so full of blessings. Maybe that's true of them, but it paints a false picture of what it means to come to Christ and have your life changed by Christ. Turning to Christ isn't an 'easy' button for life. Trust me, I can attest to that.

If I were to look at my life through the lens of these misconceptions and false beliefs, it'd seem like my life was 'good' before my relationship with God and has become 'bad' ever since. I've been in a place lately where I'm facing more illness and deaths than I ever imagined I'd face in such a short amount of time, so soon in life, where problems seem to be piling up on my doorstep. If I look at my life by using scripture incorrectly, it really brings me down to a low place and is dangerous. But if I look at my life through the correct perspective , through God's eyes, I know that my life is not worse now.  (Because now, I am a sinner saved from my sins, free of my punishment because of Jesus' work on the cross, going through life with God by my side, with a purpose of serving him and loving others, destined for an eternity in heaven with him.) God doesn't give me reason to hope that my problems will go away this side of heaven, but he does tell me to put my hope in him and him saving me from eternally being separated from him, and he does promises a lot of amazing things for me in heaven. Those are truths. Those are the truths I need to focus on. Those are truths that have to be enough.

The lies we believe, the misconceptions we have, can be damaging to our faith when we need it most. I know.

In case this post has been a rambling or has left you confused but interested in what I'm trying to talk about, you can listen to or watch the message I heard this past weekend that helped remind me of truths I needed to hear, hopefully this pastor can do a better job of explaining some of what I was trying to in my own way.

So today, wherever you are, whatever you're facing, illness, death, financial hardships, family problems, marriage problems, whatever... Please know, especially if you're my brother or sister in Christ, it doesn't mean God doesn't love you. It doesn't mean God is withholding his blessing from your life or punishing you. It doesn't mean God has broken his promises. Don't let your circumstances shake your faith. Cling to the promises that are always true for every believer - that God loves you, will never leave you, and has an incredible reward for you in heaven.

"Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger or threatened with death? No! Despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us." Romans 8:35-37