The late founder of Campus Crusade, Dr. Bill Bright, was instrumental in creating the famous Cru gospel presentation, The Four Spiritual Laws. Thousands and thousands of people have come to Christ thru that presentation.
The first of those 4 Laws says, "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life!"
The TRUTH of that Law is undeniable, Our interpretation of that last part, "wonderful plan" is largely wrong, at least in my view.
Most people, at least most Americans, interpret a "wonderful plan" as a life filled with success and joy and other good things. The "health and wealth" preachers play on that interpretation to the extreme.
But, I would argue, our interpretation of "wonderful plan" may NOT be correct. G^d undeniably has a "wonderful plan" for us in eternity, but in the here and now, maybe NOT so much.
Consider some of the great characters of the Bible:
Now, we have to stretch a bit to consider those folks' lives as "wonderful".
But their eternity certainly is!!
The first of those 4 Laws says, "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life!"
The TRUTH of that Law is undeniable, Our interpretation of that last part, "wonderful plan" is largely wrong, at least in my view.
Most people, at least most Americans, interpret a "wonderful plan" as a life filled with success and joy and other good things. The "health and wealth" preachers play on that interpretation to the extreme.
But, I would argue, our interpretation of "wonderful plan" may NOT be correct. G^d undeniably has a "wonderful plan" for us in eternity, but in the here and now, maybe NOT so much.
Consider some of the great characters of the Bible:
- Jeremiah- known as the weeping prophet,
- Moses- the leader of Israel, suffered greatly in his task,
- David- did pretty well, but his sons were a mess,
- Paul- spent quite a bit of his time in jail, only to be martyred outside the walls of Rome,
- Many of the disciples were jailed and martyred,
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer was martyred,
- Rachael Scott of Columbine, CO, was martyred,
- Many modern day Believers are being killed for their faith.
Now, we have to stretch a bit to consider those folks' lives as "wonderful".
But their eternity certainly is!!
I'd rather be in His will and things being difficult, than having a great time for a little while and being outside His will. Because I know the consequences of the latter ain't so wonderful.
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