Is it wrong or even a sin to have the mindset of God will only bless me in Heaven? I've had a bad life: 20 years of depression, dysfunctional family, loneliness, learning disability, health problems(6 surgeries), etc. I wonder if this how its meant to be and will always be.
What does God tell you in His word, the Bible, a life with Him will be like fundamentally? Does your life match up?
When I look into God's word, I see promises from Him that my life in Him, in Christ, ought to be characterized by joy, peace, love, truth, holiness and divine power (
Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 5:9; Matthew 11:28-30; Romans 6: Romans 8:9-15, 2 Timothy 1:7, etc.). It's an "abundant life" that God tells me in His word I can have in Him (
John 10:10). Not a life of abundant
physical things; God's not interested in giving me stuff - more clothes, more technology, a bigger, better house, or car, or boat, etc. He is Himself the "abundant life."
In Him, I find all the wonderful things that make my life with God so excellent. When God gives to me Himself, He has given to me the very best, the greatest, thing that I can possibly possess. Everything else is way downhill from God. Do you believe it? When you do, you will have joy in the midst of trial and pain, peace in the midst of sorrow and uncertainty, contentment in the midst of need and discomfort. Why? Because in the midst of all of these things you possess and are possessed by the Lord God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Exodus 15:11
11 Who is like unto you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
Deuteronomy 10:17
17 For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God...
Psalm 86:8-10
8 Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; neither are there any works like your works.
9 All nations whom you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord; and shall glorify your name.
10 For you are great, and do wondrous things: you are God alone.
1 Timothy 6:15-16
15 ...He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
16 who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.
Sadly, many don't think God is that great. He's just okay. Kinda' helpful - sometimes. But better than a few million dollars? No way. Better than an oceanside mansion and a couple of Lamborghini in the driveway? Nooo. Until this perspective of God changes, until God grows to His proper proportion in a person's understanding, walking with Him isn't ever going to be that special - and certainly won't be the "abundant" experience the Bible tells us it should be. The problem isn't that God isn't great, though; it's that
we aren't and want to drag God down to our level. For some reason, many prefer a God that is...manageable, comfortable, malleable. The more God can be made to reflect who
we are, many think, the better.
But, God is quite incorrigible; He just won't fit into our shape. He
will be God: bigger, better, greater than we are, far beyond our silly attempts to control Him. And He keeps demonstrating that this is so in ways that often make us very ill-at-ease. God is downright dangerous, it turns out. He isn't a tame lion. He puts His
own will ahead of
ours; He will do what He intends to do before He will do what we want Him to do. God will press us and poke us, making us very uncomfortable indeed, until we yield to Him and let Him be the Boss. And, scariest of all, God will even sometimes let us be harmed, He will allow evil to touch us and hurt us, if it serves His purposes to do so. Read the story of Job. Or consider what happened to Jesus.
God's not out to get us, of course; He isn't eager to see us in pain. But as any good parent knows, sometimes the best thing for a child is the thing that makes them wail and weep the most. Even when it makes us holler and howl, our Heavenly Father will act to protect us - even from ourselves, if He must, and do the right thing for us even when we'd rather He didn't. He will strip away everything that isn't Him, to which we would resort if we could, until we are crowded to Himself, submitted and relying upon Him as He created us to do. This process can be...painful - and long. We can be very hard-headed, determined to have our way rather than yielding to God's will and way. Some even destroy themselves rather than place themselves humbly under God's mighty hand.
Anyway, a miserable life is not a testament to God's will but is a reflection of who we are, and is the inevitable lesser life we have when we are not living in humble, trusting surrender to Him every day (
Romans 6:13-22; Romans 8:14; Romans 12:1; James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:6).
Psalm 16:11
11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Isaiah 26:3-4
3 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you: because he trusts in you.
4 Trust in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:
Ephesians 3:16-21
16 ...be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,
21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.