by David Brenneman
"But why?!?" Is probably the most often question asked of God. Right up there with "Why me?!?".
We who have come to Christ for salvation are indeed told that Jesus loves us too much to leave us as He found us, but do we know what that really means?
Some who have yet to come to Christ for salvation look at what those who are Christians go through and are there to exclaim "No way! Not going to go there!".
Back up a little...both of you groups. Both of you don't even understand what is truly happening if those are your reactions.
Jesus is not just called the Savior of the world. Jesus isn't just the Christ. Jesus isn't just the many other names given in the Bible. Narrow that list to one for the time being: Great Physician. He's the Doct of Doctors. The all-in-one Doctor. He handles all forms and types of every facet of human existence and experience. He's fully prepared to deal with all mental, physical and spiritual matters. Everything.
Add to this, when you come to Jesus for salvation, His love and care for you will not allow Him to leave you in your wounded state.
Having been in darkness of this world until I came to Christ for salvation, I had no clue what the grocery list of problems I had. I knew not of what was wrong with my mind and spirit, my soul even.
Jesus, however, knew from long before I came to the realization that I needed Him to save me, just what was needed for me.
My soul was in shambles. My spirit wasn't fairing much better. My mind was only beginning to consider His ways, His commands and His purpose for me.
Jesus began His work in me. Quite often people see what a Doctor of this world does in treating you. He or she has a regime that is followed to treat things. There's sterilization, there's identifying the main issues plus collateral issues. There's the decision on procedures. Then there's the big one. Trusting them to treat you right...which means living with that decision.
When we came into God's family by way of salvation in Christ Jesus, we also got a new Doctor named Jesus. His care and love for us goes beyond any we will find on Earth.
Jesus isn't just going to work on what we see, but He will prepare us for what we don't see. He is going to have the Spirit teach us that which we need to know to live life to the fullest. So in this we also get a Guidance Counselor. Not just in relationship to a job but relationships.
"But what's wrong with my life that He would want it changed so much?" you may ask.
Look. Seriously. Look. You trusted Jesus to save your life, your soul, your spirit. Why wouldn't you trust Him with what He sees that needs fixing in your life?
I can testify that some of the surgeries that I have been through have been rough, but all the while He's been with me, holding my hand.
Jesus, as I said, is the Doctor of Doctors. He knows what you are capable of way more than you do. It's not like stories of parents basically pushing their children into careers they never truly liked let alone loved. It's not like parents who pushed their children into schools they really didn't want to go to. Jesus sees our end from our beginning. He knows exactly what would happen if we turned left rather than the right. He knows every thought we will have and every implication of those thoughts. He knows what it takes and will take to make us more like Christ. That's God's Will, that's God's plan...our Sanctification.
"But I LIKED that about me!" Honestly, I liked a lot of things about me that are no longer true about me because God's plans changed or removed them from me.
This is the part of trusting your new Great Physician. Trusting His plan to heal your life. Trusting His plan to guide your therapy. Trusting His plan for you in regards to your part in the body of Christ.
We can whine or we can grow up. The thing is at no point does Jesus stop His workmanship in our lives. The passage in question says: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." Ephesians 2:10 NASB.
Zero in on a few things. The word 'are'. Are is in the present tense. It means in the always here and now.
'Created'. Whe came to Christ we were born again. A new start on everything.
'For'. There's a specific reason attached. 'good works'. This means there's a job associated with being born again. 'which God prepared beforehand'. He knew before we were born, let alone before we came to Jesus for salvation, exactly how we would fit into the body of Christ, His Church.
Lastly 'that we would walk in them'. Obedience. Obedience is the single most important and beneficial thing in a Believer's life.
What seems to be seen by the world isn't what's going on in the life of a Believer. What you assume isn't what is really happening.
What we perceive isn't necessarily so from both the life of a Believer and that which is seen from the outside looking in at a Believer's life. Things aren't what they seem to be. We don't know nor realize what's going on in everything. Only God does.
So before you jump to conclusions about the lives of yourself and those around you.
Before you think this way or that way, consider that you don't have the "big picture". None of us do. We who are in Christ are to trust and obey. He puts things in front of us to do, and we're to do them. Akin to the plans of Earthly Doctors thoughts to deal with why we came to them in the first place.
It's not necessary a life of giving up things that are fun to us or enjoyable to us. For a Christian it's looking to what makes us more like Christ that isn't needed for us to be like Christ. We are indeed His workmanship. We are only seeing the beginning of that which will be completed when we see Jesus face-to-face.
"but just as it is written, "THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM."" 1 Corinthians 2:9 NASB
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