I was just thinking…about an experience I had the other day...
I grew up in the US for the first 31 years of my life. I was gone only 10 years. You'd think I know how things work here, right? But, things changed fast in those 10 years and I have a lot of experiences where I just feel like "duh" as I've been readapting...
One of those things happened a few days ago. I was shopping at Kohl's…which I never even heard of before I left the US…and every time I've ever been in the store since being back in the US…and I mean EVERY TIME…there's a sale. There's always a sale. I came to believe that that's just how that store operates and the stuff is always "on sale". So, I went in there today and gathered a few items and got to the cash register and the lady tells me my total is like $50 higher than I was expecting. I thought something was wrong! Well, I didn't notice that there were NO "sale" signs up anywhere. Nothing was on sale.
This "mistake" of mine...and what I learned from it...got me thinking about something then…something that's a pet peeve of mine that of course, has to do with Christians...
Have you ever eaten maggoty food?
Have you ever puked profusely after eating a specific food?
How do you feel about those foods after experiences like these? I know I once threw up (while pregnant) after eating a meal of spaghetti (which I have always loved) and can you guess? It was YEARS before I ever ate spaghetti again!!!
This is the normal and natural reaction to having ruined, spoiled, nasty food. It doesn't make us love and appreciate the good version of that food more…it repulses us at even the good versions of that food!
So, my pet peeve has what to do with gross food and shopping at Kohl's?
There is a sentiment that is hugely prevalent in the Christian community that sickens me about as much as maggoty food…and that is when you hear people say things like, "If we didn't have the hard times in life we'd never appreciate the good times."
Worse still is when Christians look at the "table before them" in life…and see "maggoty food" there and proclaim, "Well, God is in control…He must have a plan for this!"
My pet peeve...is when Christians look at any situation in life, no matter how terrible it is, and they try to make it into some spiritual "test" that God is putting us thru to strengthen and improve us.
Though they would never look a battered wife in the eye and tell her that she should look at her husband's hurtful use of his hands as a way to make her better appreciate the times when he touches her kindly...yet..that's exactly the type of God they think they serve.
Though they would never look a battered wife in the eye and tell her that she should look at her husband's hurtful use of his hands as a way to make her better appreciate the times when he touches her kindly...yet..that's exactly the type of God they think they serve.
If you get smacked in the face by your husband...that experience does not make you appreciate his loving touches more...it makes you pull away from his touch all together. His hurtful touch...ruins the good touch. And, no loving husband would use that technique to help his wife appreciate him more or to "grow" in to a better person. And, neither does God.
What would you think of a fireman who saved most of the people from a burning building...who had been the one to set the fire so that he could inspire people with his heroism and with the good things that would happen after the tragedy?
God and His mysterious "plan" are not behind the bad things that happen in life. Especially if there is any "sin" anywhere in the picture that caused the situation...God did not inspire, motivate, cause, or "control" that situation.
Romans 1 tell us we can learn about everything about God by the things He's made. God designed the human body. It's normal for us to be repulsed by and avoid or run away from things we have bad experiences with.
Bad experiences with food make us wanna stay away from that food not appreciate it more when it's not rotten. That tells us something about God.
God does not give us bad experiences in LIFE because…He is good. And, because He made us…and He knows that would make us repulsed…by life…not appreciate it more. Bad experiences at any time in life can harden us and rob us of our joy in life. Bad experiences in early life have been proven to lead to depression and anxiety later in life. Bad experiences are the ones that lead to suicide...not good ones. That's not "learning to appreciate life more"…that's being repulsed by something good after having had a portion of it that was "rotten".
Jesus came to give us LIFE.
Satan is here to steal kill and destroy.
It is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich and He adds no sorrow to it. (Prov. 10:22)
It's good...if you are able to learn and get something out of bad things...but don't get confused...God is not the author of the bad in your life to make you appreciate the good...unless He's a psycho.
The only way you know and appreciate what's good is to experience what's good...and the bad experiences mar and hinder your appreciation of what's good...not the other way around...
"Woe to those who call good evil and evil good…"
Yep.
That's a cockroach on the chicken that
just came home from the market.
Feeling hungry???
