On "your life isn't working so come to Jesus"

18 July 2010

[photo: Josh hiking the foothills of Himalayas in 2002]

Much of the American Christianity noise seems to be around--"your life isn't working, come to Jesus and he'll make it better".

But before I became a Christian, my life was working.

I was happy before I became a Christian.  I had money, I was traveling the world, I was chasing a girl through Africa, I graduated a great college in 3 years,  I had just saved $30,000 from my summer job.  When I was in my home town I had stories to tell.  Success and adventure lay at my feet.

When God gave me a small glimpse of the reality that he was on the thrown of the universe, governing every detail of every atom for some purpose of his own idea; I got scared.  

He owes me nothing.  If anything, he owes the rest of creation something: giving my arrogant self a beat down.  And so I crawled over to the cross of Jesus and turned myself in.

The happy parts of knowing God have been better than the happiness of my previous life.  But the sorrows and the struggles have been deeper and harder too.   And I've had to give up many of my old practices that were fun.

So if you hear smiling pastors saying, "You have a God-shaped whole in your heart that only he can fill".  That may be true.  

But our problem isn't whether our not our lives are "working".  Our problem is God.  He's going to kill us.  The only solution is the cross of Jesus; where Jesus said "Father, let's not kill them; I will pay the debt; kill me".