God’s Goal for You Is Character, Not Comfort

Today I am simply going to point to the daily devotion by Rick Warren.  HERE is where you can go to read it.

A few quotes:

"Every time you forget that character is one of God’s purposes for your life, you will become frustrated by your circumstances. You’ll wonder, “Why is this happening to me? Why am I having such a difficult time?” One answer is that life is supposed to be difficult! It’s what enables us to grow. Remember, Earth is not Heaven."

I think about recent confrontations I've had.  There was an evident frustration in him that there existed a circumstance that he couldn't control.  His ultimate solution was to remove the circumstance from his life rather than reveal and confess his obvious character problem.  If you believe your character is good and doesn't need work, you can be sure that you have a problem.  Expect a lot of frustrations in your life.  

"This self-absorbed perspective [of people thinking the Christian life is easy] treats God as a genie who simply exists to serve you in your selfish pursuit of personal fulfillment. But God is not your servant, and if you fall for the idea that life is supposed to be easy, either you will become severely disillusioned or you will live in denial of reality."

I think we all live in some form of a "denial of reality".  But only a fool would purposely tell himself a lie so often that he believes it to be true.  Maybe we don't want to be who we are, but denying what we are is "ludicrous".  The self-absorbed people I am in contact with not only want to use God for their own "selfish pursuit of personal fulfillment" but they insist that everyone around them should be used for that purpose also.  And if you don't take part in that, you can be sure you are the enemy and they have no place for you in their world.

We learned this week that the daughter of some family friends of ours who has only been married a year and a half is going through a difficult time.  The night she sat down to tell her husband she was pregnant, he sat down to tell her he wanted to get a divorce.  He then proceeded to sell their car and her musical equipment and buy a motorcycle.  He posted pictures of himself and a new girl on his motorcycle kissing.  He shut out his parents, siblings, and grandparents and doesn't talk to them.  He has also stopped all communications with every friend who has called him to talk to him.  Julie called her to console her and she is thinking of moving back here for the family support.  His parents and family have remained in contact with her and support her also and that is helpful.  Although at first he told them that she wanted a divorce and other lies.  Thankfully they quickly saw through it.  ...  It's a terrible situation.  But he is in a real "denial of reality".  He is "self-absorbed" as Rick describes here and he has a false illusion that he is missing out on life with the responsibilities he chose.  

I just wish I knew how to reach him.  I hate the thought of the size of the regret that he might have to carry one day.  A new child is going to grow up without a dad and a young woman is going to have to live without the man she saved herself for.  Sin is heartbreaking.  The only thing I know to pray for is that the Spirit of God would crack into his heart and the conviction of sin would bring him to his knees.  There is nothing else that can change a heart.