In new age philosophy we are spiritually succeeding if we are generally happy and wealthy. “The Secret” book and DVD would have us believe that we create our own reality with our thoughts. “The Secret”, which a few years ago was widely popular in pop culture, says that if we stay focused on positive thinking and avoid negative people and circumstances we will attract positive things and wealth in our life. Thankfully Jesus didn’t have that philosophy. What if Jesus didn’t want to spend too much time with the sinners and tax collectors because he didn’t want to be inundated with the negative thinking and drama? What if Jesus felt having wealth was a sign of living a good and positive life? Although the people in the DVD like to claim that this philosophy is compatible with any religious belief system, it most certainly is NOT compatible with the teachings of Jesus Christ. Some have taken a few bible quotes here and there out of context to fool Christians into thinking that perhaps Christ would have supported those views. God is not interchangeable with the term “The Universe”, and God is not a genie in the sky granting wishes to people who focus all their thoughts on what they want for themselves in life.
We all have pain in our lives, no matter what we believe, no matter our positive or negative thoughts. Jesus did not preach positive thinking. Jesus told us to take up our cross and follow him. That means to unite our suffering to his in obedience to God. If our suffering is united to Christ’s suffering on the cross then his grace is sufficient for us. It is not by our own strength that we endure, it is by the grace of God. If we rely solely on our own strength we suffer more then needed.
There are different kinds of suffering and not all pain and suffering is bad. When I think about physical suffering I am aware of many types of physical pain and suffering from plenty of personal experience. There is pain we bring upon ourselves in negative ways, by not respecting or taking care of ourselves. There is pain that can be inflicted on us by others. There is pain caused by illness. There is pain in healing, through medications or surgery; even simple fevers are actually a form of the body fighting off illness. There is also good pain, sore muscles from a healthy workout. We can experience exhaustion, sweating, panting for breath, from exercises we do to make our body stronger.
This physical pain can be compared to suffering in a spiritual sense. Sometimes we suffer in our lives because of our own sins. Sometimes we suffer because of the sins of others. Sometimes our suffering is simply part of the human condition, living in a fallen world. These are all the types of suffering that God does not want for us. These are the sufferings Christ came in this world to save us from. These are the sufferings that lead us to death unless we accept God’s grace through Christ. If we find that our suffering is from sin and from the human condition, we need to seek Gods forgiveness through repentance and confession. We fight against this type of suffering through prayer and through learning to walk more with our lord.
There is also suffering that serves to purify us, heal us, cleanse us. Sometimes healing can be painful, at these times we need to place our trust in God and lean on him to bring us through. Finally, there is suffering we endure united with Christ for the sake of the kingdom. These are the sufferings that bring us closer to God and lead to life.
I know there is much more that can be said on this. Please feel free add to this in comments. I will continue to reflect on this topic and I hope that posting this blog might inspire more faith in someone else.
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