A Sense of Security and Acceptance – Part 2

Something Good from Something Bad

I have heard grace preachers say that God does not allow bad things to happen in our lives to teach us something; they argue that this is not the nature of a God that truly loves us. I agree with this notion to an extent and I must say that we cannot fully comprehend the will of God and why bad things happen. I often think we read all sorts of nonsense things into circumstances.

But it seems that life’s tribulations seem to draw people to God. Perhaps it is because they are hammered by life to the point that they no longer have a sense of security vested in who they are and what they do. I can personally vouch for this notion because I can categorically affirm that if life would have gone well for me, if people would have approved of me like I always wished they would and if life would have gone more smoothly for me – I would have been a totally different person today; my sense of security, identity, purpose, approval and empowerment would have been rooted firmly in my ability and achievements.

I have only to look at some of the people in my life to see that their success in life, which I have always envied, has become their undoing to an extent in that it has driven them away from Christ. But who can blame them? I have wondered sometimes if it was really worth it. I have spent countless hours, days, weeks, months and even years in the pursuit of things, holding onto certain beliefs and expectations, only to eventually realise that what I had been told was true was actually baseless.

I have often wondered why the church seemed to only attract insecure people: those who had been battered into submission so that they no longer boasted in their own efforts and ability. If I would have been a stronger individual, I think I would have ran a mile from all of the confusing, patronising and often contradictory doctrines that were being spewed from the pulpit.

But one good thing that has come out of all the struggle and the pain is that I have been founded in the message of grace. Now, I read the Bible with a different perspective than many Christians: when I read the Bible I see the love, mercy and grace of God to us through Jesus Christ. I suppose I had to go through what I did in order to come to the humbling understanding that I did not have complete conscious control over my life and that I could not guarantee success in everything I did simply by “working hard” or “thinking positively” or whatever platitude performance-driven people use.

I have also come to understand the contrast between law and grace; as well as the misconceptions and the suffering that arises when people mix the old and new covenants. So when a fellow grace believer begins to share their struggles with duff Christian doctrines and performance based Christianity – I can relate to their experiences because I know what they’ve been going through. I suppose that puts me in a unique position that I would not have been in had life instilled a sense of confidence in me and I had not been desperate enough to listen to a rules-based or achievement-based monologue in church each and every Sunday, as well as the numerous Christian books I read which made all sorts of promises of being blessed extravagantly by God and pleasing Him through the pursuit of formulas and principles.