Things that Christians Don’t Always Admit but Should, #1

Provocative title I know! This is going to be a new series of mine. The point of this series is not to be negative, down, or critical of Christians or Christianity. There are plenty of bloggers out there who are more than happy to engage in that sort of thing. I am not into that. But I am about being honest, I am about being real and practical, and I am about loving truth—real truth….and I am about having fun while I do it! Are you ready?

Have you ever told a Christian about a problem you are having, a heart ache you are experiencing, or a challenge you are going though and you get this response: “You know what you need to do, you need to let the Lord into your life!”

If I had a dollar every time I heard that I could pay off my mortgage!

But you know what? That isn’t true! Jesus will not make all your problems go away. Look, if that were true we wouldn’t be able to keep people out of church on Sunday mornings! But we don’t have that problem do we? No! It is hard enough keeping people already in the church coming back to church because they have problems coming out their ears! If it isn’t true for us, why do we say it is going to be true for others?

Truth #1. Letting Jesus into your life will not make your problems go away. In fact they might get worse!

“Didn’t Jesus promise to free us from our problems?” Yes, but He didn’t come to free us from the problems your thinking of. He came to free us from the problem of not being able to be in a loving personal relationship with His Father because of our sin, that’s one problem that Jesus came to free us from. The other problem Jesus came to free us from is the problem of not being able to love God or one another the way He love us. Jesus totally took care of both those problems.

Time for a little shock treatment! Christians are forgiven, but we can (and unfortunately do) still sin with the best of them. Christians are able to love God and one another the way He loves us, but we don’t just do it, we are learning to do it; which means we are not ever doing it perfectly (and sometimes it means we are not even close). And that means we are always going to have problems.

Is there anyone in the Bible who didn’t have problems? I can’t think of a single one. Even Jesus had problems! As a matter of fact, if we are honest, the more God used a person in the Bible the more problems he or she had!

And what about Christians since then? Is there anyone in the whole history of the Church who has not had problems that brought about great frustration, doubt, anguish, tears, confusion, anger, and strife? I can’t think of a one! Christians are no different from anyone else in this area. Jesus is not a lead shield that protects you from problems. In fact, right before Jesus was taken away to be falsely accused, judged, and executed He said to His disciples,

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world (John 16:33, NIV).

What does that mean? It means you are going to have problems! But it also means that when you have trouble you can be at peace about it because in this world you know are going to have trouble! When you are having trouble it means things nothing surprising or unusual is happening. And you can be at peace knowing that my troubles are not going to keep Jesus from loving me or bring you Home! This world’s problems are only this world’s problems because Jesus overcame the world.

If you are on this side of the ground, you are going to have problems. If you don’t have any problems, your problem is worse than you realize!

So the next time you hear someone say, “Jesus will make that problem go away,” don’t you believe it. Just nod your head and be nice like you agree with them and then change the subject. Just remember that your problem is not your problem. You’re going to have problems. The real problem is deciding to commit to growing by God’s grace through your problem whether it ever goes away or not.