The Biggest Lie

Lying is second nature to Satan.  More so here in the U.S. than overseas, Satan has implanted a lie that so many in the evangelical community have bought into.

What is Satan’s biggest lie?  He has convinced us that God is a cosmic vending machine.  The world is a playground and the goal in life is to be happy.

We’re taught that the way to be happy is to love Jesus. The way you love Jesus is to read your Bible, pray, attend church, stay in fellowship with other Christians, love your neighbor, be holy, and tithe ten percent of your income to the Lord through your local church.

We’re told that if you push all the right buttons, you will have a happy and healthy life, awesome marriage, be financially sound, have lots of good friends, and your kids will all turn out right.  Hard times, bad health, broken down marriages, well, all that is for other people.

We have been told in so many words that God is a cosmic vending machine.  All you have to do is to figure out His formula, and He’ll come through for you.  God wants you to experience your own personal fulfillment, love and happiness.

I was reading the other day about a lady who had called a Christian radio show with a comment and question. She was honest in what she believed. She said, “How can I get out of this marriage I’m in? You know, it's really hard, and I'm really unfulfilled,” and on and on and on.   And then she said, "I know one thing for sure.  God wants me to be happy, and I'm not happy with my husband.  And I know the Bible says God hates divorce, but I know He'll forgive me, because He wants me happy.  So, I’ll divorced him and seek God’s forgiveness later."  I believe close to fifty percent of the evangelical community is believing and doing the same thing – buying into this happiness cult.

And here’s the real kicker.  When God does not apparently come through to their liking and understanding, they become sour at God. "Hey, God, how could this happen to my son, if You really love me?  I've been serving You with all my life, and he was in a car wreck."  Or, "I got cancer!  I’ve been serving you faithfully and tithing to my church and this is the way you pay me back!”

Translation:  “I'm really mad at God, because I'm supposed to be in a playground that God created for me to experience happiness and fulfillment. God is suppose to be my self-help genie to cause my life to work out and make me prosperous, happy and in good health.  What did I do to God to deserve this?”

Here’s the dirty little secret – that is all a Satanic lie.  

Indeed, God does want to bless His people.  The Bible says “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:4).  Jesus spelled out how to be happy in Matthew 5.

But Jesus also said, and this is the part we are not told about as often as “God wants us to be happy,” – that “in the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33).  Jesus went on to say that if you want to be His disciple, then you will have to “take up your cross” (Luke 14:27). The cross was used as a symbol of suffering.  Peter wrote, “if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed” (1 Peter 4:16).

In other words, God does not guarantee you a happy life if you follow Him. How many godless people you know who obviously do not follow God and who are better off than you are?

You see, Satan tells you such things or at least gets you to believe such things in order for you to see life as merely a playground with you in it standing with your hand out expecting more good things to be given to you.

That’s not how it is.  Life is a battlefield in which you will be shot at, possibly wounded and hurt, and become spiritually, emotionally and perhaps physically crippled.   Do you still want to follow Jesus?  Folks, we’re in a war and the problem is thinking that we’re living in a playground. But the problem with the playground mentalithy is that in a playground no one is fighting battles or holding weapons of warfare. But nevertheless, we’re all being shot at!

Can you imagine a young man over in Iraq, with an M16, a helmet on, a 60- or 70-pound backpack, walking through a battlefield, finally takes a break, sits down, opens some terrible C-Rations, takes a couple of bites and goes, "Oh, this just isn't good and tasty, at all"?  Do people complain about the food, when the issues are life and death?  When you're dragging your buddy, when there's fire coming down all around you, and you're dragging your buddy, and you go, "You know, I don't feel very fulfilled right now."

You know what?  We're here for a very short time, and there's an invisible war going on.  It is a battle, and the bullets are real, and the impact and the implications are eternal.  And we have bought the lie that God promises us to be healthy, wealthy and happy.

When it does not turn out this say, we become mad at God and take matters into our own hands and seek our own happiness our way. Our foe is formidable.  Don’t buy into Satan’s biggest lie. 

Yes, you can have the joy of the Lord despite any bad circumstances.  But don’t ever think for one moment, that everything in life must go your perceived way.

It is time to dust off your cross and once again identify with Jesus in His suffering and rejoice that you are called and chosen to follow Him in such a way. 

Remember, sufferings and trials in life are merely temporal in this life. There are eternal promises to come. Keep eternity fixated in your mind.