Theology matters when your world is crashing down.
What you believe about God and how He works in the world can bring you unspeakable peace or tormenting despair.
There seems to be a ‘movement’ in the modern church that wants to minimize doctrine—-“it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you’re being a force of good in the world” or something like that.
That seems all fine and good until tragedy strikes. And then what you believe about God is everything.
I grew up with a mixed bag of theology. On the one hand, there was grace. I was taught that Christ died for my sins and paid for my forgiveness on the cross.
On the other hand, I was taught to do my best to keep the law of God and was always despairing at my inability to do so. Christ’s blood on the cross was powerful enough for my salvation but everything else I was taught pointed me to myself…….my own spirituality, my own prayer life, my own measurable growth as a believer. I knew deep down that I wasn’t pulling it off. I was still sinning and failing to love my neighbor and failing to love God with all my heart.
Back in those days, I was a regular at altar call. I got saved at least one Sunday a month and rededicated my life the other three. I’m not sure how many times I got baptized but I’m sure the congregation wondered what horrendous sin I was committing to be needing so much salvation. I was burdened with myself. I would take personal inventory. “Okay, this week I missed ‘quiet time’ three times and lost my temper with my sister and failed to witness at school.
Back to the altar I went. And I was one of those who gave in early—first verse of “I Surrender All” and I was weepy confessing mess.
It’s the “Jesus has saved you. Now you get busy” theology.
That kind of shallow, self-sufficient christianity will leave you either broken or self-righteous and I’ve been my share of both.
I was nearly 35 years old before I began to *get* the grace of God.
It was Lutheran pastors who came to my rescue. My very own pastor, who was so patient with my rapid fire questions and the wonderful pastors I’ve been privileged to learn from at Issues Etc. have helped me see that the mercy and grace of our Lord is boundless. No matter what life is throwing at you, you can be sure that He is up to something, and that something is love.
So, whether your house burns down or your spouse leaves or your children rebel or you have cancer—there is one thing you can count on.
For the sake of Christ, God has loved you with an everlasting love. He is your Father and He knows your sorrow and counts your tears.
He chose you before the foundation of the world, to live this life, with these people, in this very specific circumstance.
Your hurt is not lost on Him. He cares for you so much that He suffered every conceivable temptation to rescue you from your shackles.
He will use every heartache in your life to bring you joy in Him.
He will make every piece of the puzzle make sense.
He is not waiting for you to obey or be strong or be faithful.
He has obeyed and been strong and faithful in your place.
And He offers this all to you freely, for the sake of Christ, because that is the reason why He came.
He is the Rock on which your life is built and you need not worry when you see the walls all fall down around you.
In Christ, they will be built again, with the true and sure Cornerstone of His body and blood.
He will make life from death.
Hope from ruin.
Beauty from ashes.
*****************
I highly recommend the following podcast series that recently aired on Issues by Pastors Todd Wilken and Jeremy Rhode called “The Gospel for Former Evangelicals.”
By God’s mercy, there are still churches that are gospel centered but I think the gospel is far too rarely preached and taught and I’m thankful for these faithful and highly trained pastors wh0 are able to so beautifully share God’s grace for those of us who have been bruised by the church.
Amen and amen!
Boy have I been there! Obeyed ALL the rules, prayed for Christ to come into my heart & save me after every Billy Graham Telethon. What a relief when I realized it wasn’t about me & earning my way in. He already did the work when he died for me ALL I have to do is accept His gift! Which inturn leads to me desiring to please my father! GOOD stuff! Thank you! I agree about the fluffy christianity ~ I want to know Him, His word nothing less!!!
Amen. Thank you for such words filled with wisdom and love. Thank you for sharing your heart.
What a great reminder that it is through Christ alone and not in what we do for we will surely fail in our human efforts.
Ruth
Once again, I want to forward this post to everyone I know. Especially my non-Lutheran friends. Excellent.
Thank you for this beautiful piece of insight about God’s love. It is something that really really touched my heart. I was raised as a Mormon and constantly felt the weight of my own salvation… what step did I need to complete next… what else could I do to get a little closer to eternal life… what else could I feel guilty about. I was saved about three years ago after hearing my boyfriend and his family talk about grace. Immediately I felt a weight lifted from me. My salvation wasn’t about what I could do… it was about what He had already done for me. To this day I still struggle as a Christian about the line between working towards a stronger relationship with God and making it all about myself and what I can do. This spoke straight to my heart. <3
I think you’ll love this series on the gospel Tobi! It’s been a long road of recovery for me and I’m thankful for the constant reminders from men of God who are generous to share the good news. I can’t recommend Issues highly enough. It’s been life-changing for me. If you can find a Christ-centered church (I might be able to help if you give me the area you live in) you’d be amazed how much it would strengthen your faith.
Much love and prayers,
edie
Preach it, Sister. I’m sitting in the Amen corner.
I so needed to hear this, thank you for sharing. God Bless!
I’ve been listening to the entire “Former Evangelical” series on Issues, Etc. and it has been such a blessing! I never would have found Issues if it weren’t for you sharing episodes over and over and over…so thank you! 🙂
Beautifully said. I’m coming out of lurking to tell you I adore everything about your blog, but the posts where you share your heart and “push” your doctrine are what keep bringing me back. I’m very thankful for my little reformed church that preaches the gospel every week, but sometimes it’s just good to hear it from a fellow sister in Christ who has shared some of the same struggles. 🙂
Thank you so much for this! I’m 36 and just beginning to “get” this gospel of grace. I love hearing about the journey from someone who is just a little further up ahead of me on the pilgrim’s road.
If you could press the ” like” button on this post I would!
Thank You Edie 🙂
at 35, I feel like i’m just beginning to make my journey to faith, to knowing God’s love and grace. your words ring true. they are beautiful
I look forward to checking out the series.
Thank you, Edie.
This is beautiful Edie!
Edie, it feels like you wrote this post especially for me. Not the “bruised” part, but how God is faithful and there for us, no matter what. I love the ending, especially this:
No matter what life is throwing at you, you can be sure that He is up to something, and that something is love.
whether your house burns down or your **spouse leaves** or your children rebel or you have cancer—there is one thing you can count on.
He will use every heartache in your life to bring you joy in Him.
He will make every piece of the puzzle make sense.
you need not worry when you see the walls all fall down around you.
He will make life from death.Hope from ruin.Beauty from ashes.And this is thee most comforting thing I’ve heard in a long, long time:He knows your sorrow and counts your tears.
THANK YOU EDIE!!! x o x o andrea
I love this post and I have to share with you that for years I’ve been “rebelling” against the “now that you’re saved, you need to get busy for the Lord.” When we began to homeschool, we got strange looks. When I had the crazy notion that my service to the Lord was in serving my family, the response I got was” well yes, but what are you doing for the Lord”. For years, much anger built up in my heart but God is so good. He healed the anger and opened my eyes to what matters. What matters is Him. He is still teaching me. Again, I love this post and I agree with you wholeheartedly. Maybe I’m a closet Lutheran and don’t know it.
I totally agree that having a firm theology is so critical when you are going through life! There have been several circumstances in my life where knowing, and fully believing in God’s sovereignty and goodness in that sovereignty have been critical for me! Theology is so much more than just the act studying for knowledge. It shapes our world view, and it very often, if not always, determines our reactions to every circumstance in life!
Amen sister.
Your theology DOES matter when tragedy strikes, and it better be founded on CHRIST ALONE.
I was raised on both types of doctrine, too…..surrender all and then WORK YOUR BUTT OFF to be good enough to keep God’s grace….what an EXHAUSTING life that was.
I don’t go to the same kind of church that you do…but God has been FAITHFUL to show me his GRACE and to teach me what it’s all about…and it has NOTHING to do with me or my works or my own righteousness because I have none.
Thank you for sharing your heart. God’s grace and love are everlasting. There is nothing we can do to increase God’s love for us and nothing we can do to decrease God’s love for us. And yes, God’s does “restore the years eaten by the locust.” God bless and keep you and your family.
How would you explain god and how he is “working in the lives” of those who starve in various other countries? I am always amazed by those who are praying for miracles or thanking god that they did well on a test at school or finished a certain project on time, or those who believe that god is not giving one more than he/she can handle. How would you comment on those who are facing horrible lives or poverty or persecution. Do you honestly believe that god doesn’t favor them or doesn’t listen to their prayers? Do you feel that he instead, cares more about someones prayer that they, for example, don’t run out of gas, or that their dinner party is a success, or that the weather cooperates for the family picnic? Would you believe that god delivers certain people out of medical crisis because they prayed harder than someone else? Do you believe that certain people deserve the grace of god more than others? Do you only believe that god works for the good of those who are fortunate? There is a huge disconnect here. I am struggling, as a christian, with these questions. I can’t ignore that horrible things exist in this world. Do you think that god doesn’t love those who plotted to bring down the world trade center towers? After all, they were doing what they felt was the honorable, most noble and faithful thing to do. I am so confused by all of this.
I have followed your blog for years. I have been inspired by your decorating, your blended family, as well as your walk of faith. This is not meant to be an unfavorable comment.
I don’t take offense at all my friend and in fact, I think we’ve all wrestled with the same questions. I love CS Lewis and I’ve read his book “Problem with Pain” many times. I think it’s the best concise apologetic for why there is suffering in the world. It would do much better than I could at answering some of those very tough questions. Ultimately, we must have faith that God is sovereign and loving and in control. That faith is itself a gift of the Holy Spirit that is imparted through God’s word. I hope you’ll consider Lewis’ book. It’s profound and insightful and doesn’t give pat/glib answers.
Bless you in your searching,
edie
Hi Eadie,
I have a question that I hope some day you will write about. I am a Christian, (in the sense that I try to be as Christlike as possible and try to follow his teachings) but one thing that I wonder about is why God would require someone to pay the price for our sins. If people sacrificed animals like they did in the old testiment, we would think it was strange and wrong. I do not require my childeren to sacrifice for me, nor would I think it would be a loving thing to do. I’m just not sure about God wanting animals and a human to pay any kind of price.
Respectfully,
Marie
Mindy,
Thank you so much for commenting. I don’t minimize your doubts and questions. I celebrate them because we are often closer to truth when we doubt than at any other time. I am no theologian and I certainly do not have all the answers. More importantly, it’s the Holy Spirit who gives faith upon the hearing of God’s word. One thing I can offer is this—-all real things are strange. The Bible calls the act of the imparting of faith being ‘reborn’. We may think it strange that being reborn involves such a thing as Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. But then we see how odd ‘birth’ itself is and we must accept that God’s ways are not ours. If you haven’t read C.S. Lewis’ book “Mere Christianity”, I highly recommend it. I think you’ll find it an amazing apologetic for the truth claims of Christ. I have an extra copy if you want to send me your address. Also, the radio podcast IssuesEtc.org has a plethora of wonderful pastors on almost any christian topic you can think of. Much love in your searching,
edie
Beautiful writing. From the heart.
This writing is so beautiful. Would you mind if I put this part in my blog, http://www.piggywhistles.blogspot.com. I would of course give you credit.
So, whether your house burns down or your spouse leaves or your
children rebel or you have cancer—there is one thing you can count on.
For the sake of Christ, God has loved you with an everlasting love.
He is your Father and He knows your sorrow and counts your tears.
He chose you before the foundation of the world, to live this life, with these people, in this very specific circumstance.
Your hurt is not lost on Him. He cares for you so much that He
suffered every conceivable temptation to rescue you from your shackles.
He will use every heartache in your life to bring you joy in Him.
He will make every piece of the puzzle make sense.
He is not waiting for you to obey or be strong or be faithful.
He has obeyed and been strong and faithful in your place.
And He offers this all to you freely, for the sake of Christ, because that is the reason why He came.
He is the Rock on which your life is built and you need not worry when you see the walls all fall down around you.
In Christ, they will be built again, with the true and sure Cornerstone of His body and blood.
He will make life from death.
Hope from ruin.
Beauty from ashes.
This writing is so meaningful for me and so beautifully put.
Thank you so much LIndy and feel free to repost.
xo,
edie
To those of you with the questions, I urge you to find a Precept Bible study…it is an incredible way to learn and understand God’s word through observatIon, interpretation and application…..it has changed my life….I am studying the Covenant now….incredible study. Thank You Edie, another beautiful, from the heart post.
Oh, Edie. Beautifully said, and so poignant with the picture.
Dear Edie your new house is beautiful! I would love to live on a lake, the view is breathtaking! I don’t believe what you believe as a matter of fact I don’t believe in god at all(I used to), but I respect your views and can appreciate that you speak them from your heart.
I’ve enjoyed your 31 days so far and look forward to the next days ahead. 🙂
Thanks so much for reading and thanks for the comment!
Just curious whether you’d share your background? On your twitter page, it said you were a christian for 30 years before becoming atheist. I’d love to hear your story. (I saw that you blog so perhaps you’ve shared it there?)
Thanks again,
edie
You are more than welcome and yes I’ve shared my story on my blog.
My story can be found here.
http://theagnosticswife.wordpress.com/my-story/
Beautifully written!
I love this post 🙂
Well said. Period.
Edie! Thanks so much for writing this. It really spoke to me today. I’ve never written a comment on here before, but I have read just about every post you’ve put up. I love your heart and the way you are able to display that in your writing. You are so encouraging. Im going through a major trial in my life right now, but have been so broken before God and have felt his grace in my life like never before, and what you’ve written I believe God is truly in this. Thank you. I have also been been listening to this series, and You may find it worth listening to. http://www.mannachurch.org/series_religionx.php
You are so precious. And your responses to those who have questioned you here are just eloquent. Thanks for shining your light sweet sister.
AMEN. I have also experienced this and know it’s true. Thank you for sharing!
Oh my how beautiful Edie!! You made me cry. Thanks so much! 🙂 I have a friend who could really use your beautiful words right now and I will send her the link. How I love your inspirational words. Oh I love that you testify in your daily life. What beauty from ashes.
Edie, this is beautiful. thankyou.
“He is not waiting for you to obey or be strong or be faithful.” This was just for ME. Tonight. Boy did I need this reminder. Thank you.