Your Best Life Now?

Live your best life now…
You only live once…
God wants me to be healthy, wealthy, and prosperous…

A. W. Tozer wrote a century ago, “The idea that this world is a playground instead of a battle ground has now been accepted in practice by the vast majority of Christians.” Not much has changed in a hundred years.

What is the difference of seeing the world as a playground instead of a battle ground? If this world is a playground, it’s supposed to be fun! It’s supposed to be for my best life now. That means no pain, no suffering, no tears, no diseases. If this is the playground, then I ought to have health, wealth, and prosperity.

And the amazing thing is that there are versions of Christianity that have swallowed this wholesale. The only problem is for anyone that’s been alive for a chunk of time, pain, suffering, tears, diseases, death seems to be the hand life deals us on a regular basis. So, Christians who have bought into the playground life are convinced something must be wrong with them and their faith when things aren’t a playground.

The reason why the playground metaphor is a lie is because of what God tells us in his word.

God says, “For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers , against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

The consequence of being at war is that Jesus told his disciples, “You will be hated by all because of my name” (Matthew 10:22), and “They will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name” (Matthew 24:9).

Because we are at war, God tells us, “Share in suffering like a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3). The Apostle Paul reminds us, “For he has graciously granted to you the privilege not only of believing in christ, but of suffering for him as well” (Philippians 1:29).

Live your best now…
You only live once…
God wants me to be healthy, wealthy, and prosperous…

Because so many have bought into the view that this world is our playground, when things get hard, when we suffer, when we are persecuted for our faith, many are distraught and many quit.

Suffering in a world that crucified our Lord is part of the program. God tells us, “For this you have been called, because christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21).

But when we see the world as a battleground where the spiritual forces are at war, we gain an entirely different perspective re hardship, suffering, and persecution.

Tune in tomorrow for more.