Spiritual bandaids

I generally consider myself to be quite a laidback, fairly contented kind of person. But sometimes, I get a little frustrated with where I am at in life. This kind of feeling usually comes about as a result of some work-related issue or incident. You know those days, when work just feels like it is going on forever, and you cannot remember what on earth possessed you to select this career, and you feel like you are just treading water, waiting for something dramatic and exciting to happen, but secretly worrying that it never will. Days like that, all my positive, laidback feelings fly out the window and I can find myself having a little moan. I realise it is not a very mature response. But sometimes it is as much as I can manage. And I can guarantee you that as soon as I start to moan, some nice well-meaning Christian (often my mother) will chirp up with those over-quoted words from Jeremiah 29: “God has good plans for you, Emma, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future”. Yes, I know. I read that verse too. And it is ruining my moan.

It’s not that I don’t believe what the verses say. I don’t have a problem with what God is telling me. It’s a pretty wonderful promise – it’s encouraging, uplifting, it should spur me on, remind me that God loves me and has my best interests at heart, that He desires good things for me. But somehow, it feels like people only quote it at me when I’m having a down day, and that somehow, it’s supposed to miraculously fix my mood and make me feel wonderful about life. Like it’s some kind of spiritual bandaid.

I’ve never been a fan of the prosperity gospel. You know – the ‘name it and claim it’ gospel. That guarantee that following Jesus will be followed by riches and blessing. It seems contrary to scripture. All those verses about picking up your cross, laying down your life, learning to be content in times of need, giving away your riches, pouring out your life for the poor, finding treasure in heavenly places, not storing up riches on earth. It seems like Jesus is maybe trying to send us a covert message – that maybe we might have to go without the material things sometimes. That maybe we might have to give them up. That maybe – just maybe – He might call us to put other people before ‘things’.

Sometimes when times are hard and people quote Jeremiah 29 at me, I want to give them a bit of a shake and ask them to think more carefully about what they are saying. It gets quoted like it is a guarantee of blessing. That no matter what your circumstances are God is going to make them better. Things will improve, because God has good plans for you and that will naturally mean that you will be lifted out of this current, horrible situation, and placed into something wonderful where life will be comfortable. Since when were God’s good plans all about our comfort levels?

If I have a job that I dislike, which frustrates me, stifles me, makes me feel small and I express this concern to someone and they remind me that God has good plans for me – it’s often underlined by the assumption that God has another, better job for me. When I get that new job, it’s put down to being God’s blessing. My good friend Hellen is one of the most faithful believing Christians I know. She lives in Kenya and her life is incredibly difficult. Abandoned by her husband years ago, she supports her sick mother and her two young sons. Life has been a series of knockbacks. I paid for her, some years ago, to do some secretarial training – it has never led to a job. Every time things start to improve, something happens to knock her back again. Last year, my mum and I sent her some money to start up a couple of small businesses. She was so into it – she started a chicken project and also a business buying & selling secondhand clothing. She even got awarded a bursary from the Department of Agriculture, because her chicken project was showing so much potential – she was getting orders from all the local hotels. She had finally turned a corner. Then a couple of months ago, she was in a horrific car accident in which two other people died. All her savings went on her medical care – her projects are all gone now, and Hellen is at an all-time low in her life.

‘God has good plans for you – plans for a hope and a future’. When I pray for the new job and seek it and work towards it and finally get it – is that God’s blessing, or is it my white, western, middle-class privilege? God’s blessing, or product of my education? God’s blessing, or accident of birth? Hellen has been praying for a job for 15 years. We serve the same God. Hellen is undoubtedly more faithful than me – she prays more, throws herself on God’s provision more than I do. I can rely on a monthly paycheck. Hellen can’t. I can’t accept that God would be more engaged in my life than in Hellen’s. And yet I move forward, while Hellen is stuck in a rut going nowhere, watching everything she has worked towards turn to dust. God’s blessing? Or privilege of birth?

I guess that’s why the ‘spiritual bandaid’ thing bothers me so much. In spite of all of this, I still believe that God has good plans for Hellen’s life and for her family. I know that God loves them, and that He is involved with them. But somehow it grates on me when people assure me of God’s good plans for my life, while I watch my sister who has so little constantly struggle against all the odds. I know that God loves to bless. He promises to bless us so that we can be a blessing to other people. But sometimes there seems to be a massive inequality in how that blessing is dispersed. It’s why the prosperity gospel sickens me so much. The prosperity gospel would have me thinking that Hellen’s consistent bad fortune is down to a lack of faith – and I know that is not the case. Hellen’s circumstances are a result of the social conditions of the country she was born in. So are mine.

I don’t have any answers. I wish I did. The world is a screwed up place – full of injustice, between people, between communities, between nations. I wonder if perhaps we were quicker to acknowledge things as the product of geography and birth, rather than God’s blessing or lack of, would we be quicker to respond to the injustice that we see in the way the world operates? Please don’t get me wrong – God does bless, regardless of our geography or our circumstances. I don’t want to take away any credit from God in this – He is a good God who loves to give gifts to His children. But He is also a just God who is sickened at the way our world works, and who grieves over the injustices so many people have to live with. God does have good plans for Hellen – but the social system Hellen lives in is trying to scupper those plans. We are all part of that system – it isn’t confined to a particular nation or people group. The solution? Kingdom values. Jubilee. Relief from debts. Sharing of wealth and material things. No-one goes without. Biblical concepts, every one. That’s the system I want to live my life in line with. One that transcends what the world offers and regards everyone as equal and valued. Because in God’s kingdom, there is no hierarchy of blessing. In God’s kingdom, everyone can take hold of that verse and claim it for their own. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord – plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future”.

To be continued…

Comments

i expected you to get much more angry about the spiritual cliche ‘bandaid’ hehe.
are there people with the same struggles as Hellen who live in your country? are there people with your fortune who live in Hellen’s country? probably.
i like what you say ‘We are all part of that system’, indeed… lets not distance ourselves through geography, lets bring these challenges home, and make them our very own problem…

By acacia. Posted on Thursday 3rd Dec 2009 at 11:14

Love the blog Emma!  I constantly have to stop during worship sometimes…or when I speak things over people…and ask myself if I TRULY believe what’s coming out of my mouth…because all too many times it’s simply a ‘spiritual bandaid’ as you call it…so true…

By Mark. Posted on Thursday 3rd Dec 2009 at 14:58

Hi Acacia. Absolutely, there are plenty of people in this country who have similar struggles - of course. Geography isn’t really anything to do with it. The point is about the disparity in social conditions, and how this can be wrongly attributed to God’s blessing or lack of. So life could be wonderful for me, but incredibly difficult for my neighbor, and it can all boil down to social circumstances rather than distribution of blessing. My choice to refer to my friend in Kenya is probably a lot to do with my own frame of reference, and the extremity of our situations. My frame of reference, personally, is much broader than Northern Ireland. That’s based partly on where I’ve lived and spent time, but also on an awareness that it is not enough to keep my mindset focused only on the place where I live. Like I said, we’re all part of the system, and that system goes beyond national boundaries. What we do in Northern Ireland affects people in Kenya, and vice versa. Certainly in terms of Redeemer, we’re a church that has a heart for Belfast and for this nation – but we also have a heart for the nations. (Just to clarify, a heart for the nations doesn’t just mean less developed nations!)

By Emma Keenan. Posted on Friday 4th Dec 2009 at 11:01

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