"Are you capable of forgiving and accepting in love a world which has disappointed you by not being perfect, a world in which there is so much unfairness and cruelty, disease and crime, earthquake and accident? Can you forgive its imperfections and love it because it is capable of containing great beauty and goodness, and because it is the only world we have?...And if you can do these things, will you be able to recognize that the ability to forgive and the ability to love are the weapons God has given us to enable us to live fully, bravely and meaningfully in this less-than-perfect world?”
1 KINGS 10-11
1King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.(11:1-6)
JOURNAL
It is so easy to get consumed with the challenges of life. Not just distracted by them, but absorbed to the point where they begin to define how we see everything. There are moments when I catch myself wishing it all away, imagining a version of life where there are no problems, no tension, no uncertainty. A life where everything works out exactly how I want it to. On the surface that feels appealing, even justified. But the more I sit with it, the more I see the danger in that way of thinking.
That version of life is not real. And when I begin to expect it, I set myself up to become frustrated, bitter, and even angry when reality does not cooperate. The deeper issue is that many of my wants are not grounded in truth. They are shaped by comfort, control, and self-interest. I want ease. I want clarity. I want outcomes that favor me. But life does not operate on my preferences, and Scripture never pretends that it does.
When I look at Solomon, I do not just see a man who made poor choices. I see someone who had everything most people believe would eliminate struggle. Wisdom, wealth, influence, favor. Yet even he drifted. His story is not unrealistic. It is painfully honest. It reminds me that the problem is not external circumstances alone. It is the condition of the heart. Even in the best situations, the heart can wander when it is not anchored in truth.
David’s life shows something similar. A man after God’s own heart who still made decisions that brought real consequences. His story does not sanitize failure. It reveals it. But it also reveals something deeper. God works within the reality of human weakness, not outside of it.
Then I come to the empty tomb. The women walked toward it carrying spices, expecting death, expecting to finish a process that felt final. Everything about their reality pointed toward loss. But what they found did not match their expectations. The stone was rolled away. Jesus was not there. In the middle of what looked like the ultimate defeat, God revealed something far greater than what they could see or understand.
That is where this begins to shift for me. The beauty of life is not found in the absence of problems. It is found in seeing what God is doing within them. If I spend my energy wishing away hardship, I will miss the very places where God is revealing something deeper. Something stronger. Something more real than my limited understanding.
The world is not perfect. It never has been. There is unfairness, loss, sickness, disappointment, and things that do not make sense. But it is also the place where grace shows up. Where love is revealed. Where redemption becomes visible. If I only focus on what is broken, I will become hardened. If I begin to accept reality as it is, not as I wish it to be, I can start to see the goodness that exists within it.
Forgiveness and love are not passive responses to a broken world. They are active choices that allow me to live fully within it. They keep me from becoming consumed by what is wrong and open my eyes to what is still good. They allow me to trust that even when I do not understand, God is still working.
Loving God with all my heart, soul, and strength is not about escaping reality. It is about stepping fully into it with trust. It is about anchoring myself in something deeper than my circumstances. When I do that, I begin to see differently. I begin to notice beauty where I once only saw frustration. I begin to find purpose where I once felt resistance.
The challenges do not disappear. But they no longer define everything. They become part of a larger story. And in that story, there is still goodness, still growth, still grace.
It is so easy to get consumed with the challenges of life. Not just distracted by them, but absorbed to the point where they begin to define how we see everything. There are moments when I catch myself wishing it all away, imagining a version of life where there are no problems, no tension, no uncertainty. A life where everything works out exactly how I want it to. On the surface that feels appealing, even justified. But the more I sit with it, the more I see the danger in that way of thinking.
That version of life is not real. And when I begin to expect it, I set myself up to become frustrated, bitter, and even angry when reality does not cooperate. The deeper issue is that many of my wants are not grounded in truth. They are shaped by comfort, control, and self-interest. I want ease. I want clarity. I want outcomes that favor me. But life does not operate on my preferences, and Scripture never pretends that it does.
When I look at Solomon, I do not just see a man who made poor choices. I see someone who had everything most people believe would eliminate struggle. Wisdom, wealth, influence, favor. Yet even he drifted. His story is not unrealistic. It is painfully honest. It reminds me that the problem is not external circumstances alone. It is the condition of the heart. Even in the best situations, the heart can wander when it is not anchored in truth.
David’s life shows something similar. A man after God’s own heart who still made decisions that brought real consequences. His story does not sanitize failure. It reveals it. But it also reveals something deeper. God works within the reality of human weakness, not outside of it.
Then I come to the empty tomb. The women walked toward it carrying spices, expecting death, expecting to finish a process that felt final. Everything about their reality pointed toward loss. But what they found did not match their expectations. The stone was rolled away. Jesus was not there. In the middle of what looked like the ultimate defeat, God revealed something far greater than what they could see or understand.
That is where this begins to shift for me. The beauty of life is not found in the absence of problems. It is found in seeing what God is doing within them. If I spend my energy wishing away hardship, I will miss the very places where God is revealing something deeper. Something stronger. Something more real than my limited understanding.
The world is not perfect. It never has been. There is unfairness, loss, sickness, disappointment, and things that do not make sense. But it is also the place where grace shows up. Where love is revealed. Where redemption becomes visible. If I only focus on what is broken, I will become hardened. If I begin to accept reality as it is, not as I wish it to be, I can start to see the goodness that exists within it.
Forgiveness and love are not passive responses to a broken world. They are active choices that allow me to live fully within it. They keep me from becoming consumed by what is wrong and open my eyes to what is still good. They allow me to trust that even when I do not understand, God is still working.
Loving God with all my heart, soul, and strength is not about escaping reality. It is about stepping fully into it with trust. It is about anchoring myself in something deeper than my circumstances. When I do that, I begin to see differently. I begin to notice beauty where I once only saw frustration. I begin to find purpose where I once felt resistance.
The challenges do not disappear. But they no longer define everything. They become part of a larger story. And in that story, there is still goodness, still growth, still grace.
DEUTERONOMY 6:4-7
No comments:
Post a Comment