This sign amused me. Most of us have heard jokes about the naive pastor’s wife. Here’s a typical one – she thinks irate drivers are flashing her a “Hawaiian good luck sign” in traffic.
The sign lists all these events dealing with terrible troubles, and then announces a sermon about our “joyous” future.* The comments on the Friends of Irony page for this pic are funny – and pose a question Christians should answer. How can there be joy, when we have all these other things to deal with? Are we naive? Stupid?
Jesus said, “In this world you WILL have trouble.” Christianity certainly does not – in spite of Osteen and his ilk’s anti-Christian prosperity movement – promise health, wealth, or anything comfortable in this world in compensation for our faith. No, it’s very clear: we WILL have trouble. And if we are practicing our faith according the the bible, we’ll take on other people’s troubles in addition to our own. We’ll stand alongside them and shoulder their burdens with our prayers, our time, and our finances – all of which imply an emotional commitment and burden as well. And we can do that, because we can take heart in the fact that Jesus has already overcome the world. Again – naive? Stupid? No – we’re just taking a much longer view than unbelievers take.
Unlike the pastor’s wife who was oblivious to the reality of everything going on around her, we’re heartily aware of the pain and suffering of others. (And this is likely more true of actual pastor’s wives than anyone in a church except the pastor. She carries our burdens along with her husband and probably worries more about cynicism than naivete.) We don’t disregard the suffering – we work to alleviate it and we acknowledge that, hard as some things are to bear, they are temporary. And that’s neither naive nor stupid.
*I couldn’t verify this but a FOI commenter claimed this is an exhibit in a Chicago museum. Just the same, the point holds. This is not atypical of a church event schedule and sermon title, which is why it’s so familiar and so funny.
Regarding Olsteen and the like, I agree that the message is skewed. I hope that the other ministers at his church are able to give congregants a more complete package.
However, I think the Bible says a lot regarding health & wealth during our current life. We are not supposed to wait til the afterlife to be blessed.
Life in Christ is a balance. Like Paul, we must be content with the good as well as the bad (Phil 4:11-12) It just so happens that most of us are used to living in and focusing in on the bad.
The one problem I have with prosperity teaching is that the Christian’s responsibility and attitude toward God’s work is often under-emphasized or just left out. Much of God’s tangible blessings are a result of us truly living for him and doing things that are on His agenda.
Need examples?
In Genesis 1-3 we find God’s original intent for mankind was peaceful, prosperous, and without suffering. That is, until judgment came after Adam’s sin
Job was so blessed with health and wealth (in God) that Satan challenged his devotion to God with various points of suffering. God later restored to Job even more than he had originally.
Solomon could have asked God for anything. He asked for understanding, and God gave him that as well as health and great wealth (1 Kings 3)
Jesus ministered about not worrying for your needs because God will provide (Mat 6)
In His death was for our healing (Isa 53:5)
I think historically, we’ve focused on the bad so much that some think that we are supposed to suffer with no benefits in this life. Meanwhile, people lose faith in the blessings God has for us. How are we supposed to be blessing to the world if we are too sick and too poor to help ourselves and our families?
Most of our problem as Christians as that we are still being transformed from a selfish mindset to a self-less one. It takes time for us to stop thinking about helping others as a burden and start having true joy in the experience.
If anything the Bible should show us that what we call suffering is nothing compared to those that came before us and that we should be grateful for what we have, knowing we are not entitled. When I looked the sign, I didn’t think it was funny (for a church, I would have substituted “The Christian’s” for “America’s”). Instead it was a reason to be grateful for what I have and a reminder to help those that don’t.