Paul begins the eighth chapter of Romans by commenting that \u201cthere is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.\u201d <\/p>\n
Although that was true of God, it never stopped people from commenting, \u201cYou know Paul, you showed such promise as a young man, but now, look at you: never sure where your next meal is coming from. And we haven\u2019t forgotten about your little fiasco there in Damascus when you had to slip out of town by way of a basket. Maybe you should think about making some changes in your life? Perhaps re-visit some of the choices you\u2019ve made? Have you thought about getting yourself a real job since God\u2019s not blessing your current efforts? I\u2019m not saying you\u2019ve committed any real major sins\u2014though you do talk about some \u201cthorn in the flesh\u201d that God won\u2019t relieve you of. So perhaps you should focus some energy on that\u2014you know, work on improving your prayer life?\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve had a lot of people over the years criticize me for doing what I think God wants me to do. Most of them have used spiritual sounding arguments to prove that I have gone off track. \u201cWhere\u2019s God\u2019s blessing in your life?\u201d they would ask. And what did my critics mean by God\u2019s blessing? It usually boiled down to one of the following: money, recognition, and numbers.<\/p>\n
I read through the Bible once a year. I\u2019ve been doing that since I was sixteen. I have yet to find where God\u2019s blessing, or God\u2019s notion of success, can be determined by any of those physical things. Frankly, in my experience, most Christians\u2019 notion of success is identical to the non-Christians\u2019 concept of success. The thought is widespread in the Church that unless numbers are large, income is huge, and buildings are enormous, then God is displeased and we\u2019re doing something wrong. <\/p>\n
Odd how the world\u2019s concepts of success are usually draped with the skinned carcasses of genuine spirituality. You know, wolves in sheep\u2019s clothing. Job\u2019s friends were certain that good things came to good people, bad things to bad people. Therefore, one had to follow all the rules just so in order to get Santa Claus\u2014um, God\u2014to deliver. Oddly, their theology exactly matched that of the Devil: <\/p>\n
\u201cDoes Job fear God for nothing?\u201d Satan replied. \u201cHave you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.\u201d (Job 1:10-11) Doing God\u2019s will, according to the Devil, was financially beneficial. Therefore, if God took that perk away Job wouldn\u2019t perform for God anymore.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s review:<\/p>\n
Paul was called by God, hands were laid on him, and the church sent him out to minister to the Gentiles (review Acts 13:1-3). And yet this is Paul\u2019s description of what his life was like after that: \u201cFive times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.\u201d (2 Corinthians 11:23-27)<\/p>\n
Things really went badly for Paul once he left Antioch. So, was Paul not doing what God wanted him to do? Had he and the church made a mistake? Was Paul guilty of a hidden sin? Was Paul not praying right? Had Paul\u2019s lack of attendance at the latest seminar on church growth been his undoing? Maybe he needed brother Wonderful\u2019s latest book and video series?<\/p>\n
In Romans 8:35-39 Paul writes: \u201cWho shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: \u2018For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.\u2019 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n
In verse 36 Paul quotes from Psalm 44: \u201cFor your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.\u201d That\u2019s an interesting choice. The author of Psalm 44 was asking God why everything was going wrong for Israel, pointing out that if they\u2019d abandoned God and gone off and started worshipping idols, then bad stuff happening might make sense. But instead, they were not only doing what God wanted, following him closely, but \u201cfor your sake we face death all day long.\u201d They were suffering for righteousness sake! So why wasn\u2019t God making things better? Why wasn\u2019t everything working out? Why weren\u2019t they successful?<\/p>\n
When the world\u2019s idea of failure happens, it doesn\u2019t mean that God doesn\u2019t love us anymore. That\u2019s Paul\u2019s whole point in Romans 8. And Paul is not just preaching to us; he\u2019s also preaching to himself. Having experienced shipwreck, arrest, beatings, and stonings, it would be natural for him to sometimes think that God didn\u2019t love him. It would be easy for people to look at his life and tell him that he was mistaken about God\u2019s will for him. But that would be wrong. Paul was actually entirely successful.<\/p>\n
Why? Because success is simply doing what God has asked us to do, regardless of the consequences.<\/p>\n
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