Okay, seriously?! Besides the bad grammar and excessive use of exclamation points, I wondered if his screen name really means that he is 13 years old. Because that's exactly how a 13 year old would respond. Thx tho....
For some reason I could not stop thinking about this today. It made me so mad! But after I stepped down from my self-righteous pedestal, I thought about myself. Wasn't it me, just today, who said in the quiet confines of my heart, "How could you do this to me, God?" I am facing a hard situation, and I worry about it daily. I am grinding my teeth at night. I am losing sleep. And I am eating lots of candy (that's how I know I'm in a hard place) ;) While thinking about this situation, I actually had that thought for a split second. I mean, here we are, obeying God, sacrificing our lives for His kingdom, doing the best we can, and the situation we are in right now just plain sucks.
I have asked God that question before, in tough ministry situations that have left us wounded and wondering why we ever got into this whole thing in the first place. Somewhere along the way, I guess I was taught that obedience + sacrifice = an easy, blessed life. Well, it may be blessed at times, but it sure ain't easy.
Somehow I have learned to equate good behavior with spiritual blessings. Yet our walks with God are not mathematical equations that will always make sense and equal good things. Sometimes we might do good things for God, like pray for people, serve the poor, give our tithes, and then expect Him to bless us. In reality, maybe we're doing those things for our own selfish motives. We may even treat Him like He is a giant slot machine, thinking that if we put in the right amount and pull the lever just right, we will become a billionaire. How wrong we are.
We are quick to bless God when things are going right. But then we blame Him when things are going wrong.
Now, I'm not saying that God won't bless us, or doesn't want to bless us, because I believe He DOES! But are we seeking Him and His heart, or are we just seeking His blessings? Are we seeking the Gifts, or are we seeking the Giver?
I heard someone say recently that our struggles are stepping stones God uses to draw us closer to Him. Tonight I looked up the word "suffering" in the Bible, and found that the greatest men and women of God were also those who suffered. They weren't the ones who had everything going right for them. (And frankly, much of what we are going through cannot even compare to real suffering).
Romans 5:3-4
"Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope..."
I hope next time I read an article like this, that I have a more humble heart. Sounds to me like StevieJohnson13 and I actually have more in common than I'd like to admit.
___________________________________________________________________
(And this is his update since that news article was posted):
Great post! I didn't know anything about his tweets, but I learned a lot from your post. :)
ReplyDelete