One of the Christian platitudes that I find most irritating is “God will not give you more than you can handle.” Try telling that to Gideon and the 300 men with him as they moved toward a battle with the entire Midian army. Try telling that to Job who, in addition to experiencing the loss of health, wealth and family, had to endure the empty and sometimes harsh words of his so-called friends.
God is the initiator
We are wilfully ignorant of God. We are ignorant because we choose to be. The coming of Jesus confronts us in our rebellion and forces us to make a choice. We can choose to remain as we are or engage in the process of learning to respond to God’s initiative.
A difficult transition
I have nearly completed my sixth decade of life, nearly all of it as a believer, yet I find myself trying to earn the approval of both God and the people around me. I need to transition from trying to earn God’s approval to responding to the love and acceptance that I already have. Rather than an initiator, I need to be a responder.
Easter should blow our minds
But this is exactly what we celebrate at Easter. Jesus came back from being dead and caused a stir in Jerusalem one Sunday morning. This event should cause us to ask all sorts of questions if we are really connecting with what happened.
