Trouble

I heard a preacher on the radio yesterday say, "In our culture, we do not expect to have trouble.  And when we do, we want a pain-free and inexpensive answer to our problem."  He also pointed out that this cultural thinking was alive in the church as well as Christians look to pastors for quick, cheap, pain-free fixes to their problems.

Years of no attention to our marriage may have left a shambles of what it used to be but we want the pastor to have an answer that can fix things in a few marital session that he will, of course, provide for free.  Our kids may have been let run wild while in their formative years but we expect the youth minister to straighten them out in the hour a week he has them in class.

We want to drink a smoothly to take care of the extra pounds we've put on over the years.  We want to take a pill to fix the medical condition our lifestyle had produced over decades.  We want a consolidation loan to fix all our bad credit choices.  We want trouble-free answers to insure a trouble-free life.

The problem is however, even if we weren't making messes, which require great effort, time and often expense to correct, life is not going to be trouble-free - not even for the child of God.  As Jesus warns, "In this world you will have trouble" (Jn 16:33).  We are not promised a trouble-free life.  Quite the opposite.

However, Jesus goes on to say, "But take heart!  I have overcome the world."   He shared this truth so that "in me [Jesus] you might have peace."  It isn't through a cheap and easy fix to our problems that brings peace, it is by accepting the grace of God in Christ and trusting in him to "never leave you as orphan" (Jn 14:18), to trust in Christ to see you through.  Jus' Say'n.