Don't be a Miserable Christian

Sometimes we view Christianity as a mercenary affair. We look at the world and the fun they are having in their lasciviousness--while we perpetually mortify our flesh and self-flagellate--and we think to ourselves: “Soon enough the tables will be reversed. Soon enough we will be the ones who are having fun, and they the suffering.” And we then wrinkle our brows and clench our fists as we await further blows from our earthly prison.

This view of the Christian walk as an unhappy life of self-denial is undoubtedly the way the world views religion, but it should not be the way the saint views it. To be sure there is self-denial, suffering, dying to self even; but we are mistaken if we view even these central aspects of our journey as morbid and dreary, devoid of all joyful vitality. Despite what appearances may indicate the reality is the tables are already reversed. The Christian already has access to the infinite source of all heaven’s bounty. It was C. S. Lewis who once said, “He who has God and everything else has no more than he who has God only.” The losing of self to gain Christ could not be farther from the grim prospect often portrayed and more often believed. 

Consider if you will Psalm 16.  David writes in verse 2, “I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.” David is speaking in the present tense, not awaiting some future good thing. No, apart from my Lord I have no good thing. In verse 4 he goes on to describe the actual misery of those who set their hearts to idols, “Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more. I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods or take up their names on my lips.” Though outward exteriors may deceive us into thinking such people seem prosperous and happy, David is not buying it. He knows who the source of all good is, and it is not to be found in the service of temporal idols.

Verses 5 and 6 continues to build up as David delights himself in the goodness of the Lord: “Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.” To be sure the inheritance indicates a future unrealized blessing that will be David’s, but the preceding statements are all present or past tense. You are (right now) my portion and my cup. You make (right now) my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen (past) in pleasant places. So while there is an aspect of the blessings of God that are not realized in the David’s life, there is much, much that is. The same goes for the Christian.

The chapter continues with a brilliant reference to Christ which is utilized in the NT, followed by a truly lovely picture of the lavish generosity of our God:

⁹ Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
    my body also will rest secure,
¹⁰ because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
    nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
¹¹ You make known to me the path of life;
    you will fill me with joy in your presence,
    with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

It is easy to forget the kind of God we serve. We can fall into the trap of viewing Him as a cosmic “Mr. No” who takes pleasure in withholding things from us. Sometimes we think Him severe, bent on ensuring our misery as we struggle through the world. But that cannot be further from the truth. As David writes in Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are they who find rest in Him.” Far from the disappointed Father, God is the eternal fountain from whom all good things come: ever looking to draw us to Himself that we may experience His unending fullness and unremitting love.

I think of Jesus when He talks to the woman at the well in John 4:13-14, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The image is that of a spring ever bubbling, never empty, forever satisfying. Is that how we view our God in this present life? Someone who is overwhelming us with the unceasing pleasures from His right hand? If not, we risk leading a miserable life that will not attract those caught up in the deceits of the world, and perhaps worse still, we will miss out on the immeasurable blessings Christ has for us today.