Too many people have a view of God as though He is a genie in a bottle to whom they make wishes! God is to serve them rather than the other way around. I just heard a sermon where it was NOT about God but what about He can do for the person to make them “successful.” This is a FALSE gospel in the sense that while God does want good for His children, it is HIS good that He wants which may include suffering rather than their idea of what is “good.” I hope this makes sense!
“My will be done!” is what selfish Christianity is all about. People “name it and claim it” and tell God what He should do as though their perspective is greater than His!
All of this carries over into marriages that are struggling! “My will be done” says one spouse to the other in a marriage where it is all about ME. Selfish marriages are impacted adversely by selfish Christianity and views of God.
Brothers and Sisters, let me urge you to set your will aside and to ask God for His will to be done. Maybe He wants you to suffer for His righteousness? Does God allow suffering for His glory and our own good to conform us into the image of Christ? Yes.
Did Jesus Christ suffer? Hebrews 5:7-8 describes the suffering of Jesus: “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.”* If Jesus suffered, why do we think we will be any different, especially when we take a radical stand for Christ?
So if God calls us to serve Him, obey Him, and suffer for His sake (for righteousness sake), then we need to understand that the Christian life is not for us to avoid suffering but to embrace it. When we do, we will be maturing and becoming like Christ.
-Mark (just say “no” to selfish Christianity and selfish marriages)
*The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Heb 5:7-8). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.