{"id":237,"date":"2013-02-11T15:55:39","date_gmt":"2013-02-11T19:55:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/phillip-schuring\/?p=237"},"modified":"2013-02-12T08:58:21","modified_gmt":"2013-02-12T12:58:21","slug":"237","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/phillip-schuring\/2013\/02\/11\/237\/","title":{"rendered":"God’s Best?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>You want God\u2019s best for you life? You might want to think twice!<\/p>\n

In the country where I work, during the last decade, mega churches have found their way into the spot light of \u201cThe Trendy Spiritualism Show.\u201d Anyone knows that to keep the publics\u2019 interest you\u2019ve got to do a good job selling your product. And that is just what they have done. What\u2019s the product you ask? Well, nothing less than the gospel; to be truthful, a counterfeit version called the \u201cprosperity gospel.\u201d Why the counterfeit and not the real deal? Because truth doesn\u2019t sell!<\/p>\n

One of the phrases you\u2019ll hear repeated over and over again on the radio shows, and the televangelism shows is, \u201cGod wants the best for you!\u201d And I\u2019m not going to be the one that says He doesn\u2019t. However, that phrase falls on the ears of large population of below middle class citizens, who quickly interpret that to mean \u201cprosperity\u201d – in all its senses! Health, wealth, peace, and comfort! But is that really God\u2019s best? Is that the kind of best He is thinking about when He tells us in his word that, \u201call things work together for the good of those that love him…\u201d (Rom. 8:28). I\u2019ve got my doubts.<\/p>\n

I got to thinking about this and I thought it might be interesting to run through a gamete of Biblical main characters and look for \u201cthe best\u201d that God had for them. Lets start with Noah: over one hundred years building an ark while being jeered and mocked,\u00a0 Abraham: to leave all he ever knew to never really have a place to call home, to sacrifice his only son<\/p>\n

Joseph: sold in slavery by his own brothers, thrown in prison, never to return home<\/p>\n

Moses: raised as the son of his peoples\u2019 enemies, lead a stubborn people around and around in a dessert for 40 years,<\/p>\n

David: let his son build the magnificent temple he so desired to build for God<\/p>\n

Daniel: thrown into the lions den, thrown into the furnace<\/p>\n

John the Baptist: beheaded at the request of a girl<\/p>\n

Steven: stoned to death<\/p>\n

And last but most certainly not least, Christ himself: death by hanging on a cross, killed by His own creation, rejection, and abandonment! And that\u2019s just a small list of perhaps some of our favorite characters.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately this kind of tilt on the Gospel leaves devastation, frustration, and confusion in the minds of the believers who swallow the bait hook, line, and sinker, because it simply doesn\u2019t match up with reality. It just doesn\u2019t fit with the human condition and does nothing to explain the \u201cwhys\u201d of the world we live in.<\/p>\n

The truth is God wants the best for you, but it might not always be the kind of \u201cbest\u201d you had in mind. In fact its more than likely that it won\u2019t be what you had in mind! The \u201cbest\u201d and good that He has in mind is above and beyond what the world offers. It\u2019s how we get there that often scares us away.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut count it pure<\/strong> joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.\u201d (James 1:2-4)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You want God\u2019s best for you life? You might want to think twice! In the country where I work, during the last decade, mega churches have found their way into the spot light of \u201cThe Trendy Spiritualism Show.\u201d Anyone knows that to keep the publics\u2019 interest you\u2019ve got to do a good job selling your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":396,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1070],"tags":[38126,313,38127,38128],"class_list":["post-237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-radom-thoughts","tag-best","tag-god","tag-good","tag-prosperity-gospel","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/phillip-schuring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/phillip-schuring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/phillip-schuring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/phillip-schuring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/396"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/phillip-schuring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/phillip-schuring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/phillip-schuring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/phillip-schuring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/phillip-schuring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}