Quid Pro Quo

What is in it for me?

Many of our attempts to attract people to the Lord are certainly well-intentioned, but possibly do set up a faulty understanding of the Christian life.

“If you give your life to Jesus……..” and you can fill in the blank. He’ll give you peace, hope, joy. He’ll fix your marriage, restore your sobriety, heal your body, give you the life you always wanted.

Many of these promises are true but, out of context, can also be misleading. They leave the impression that a relationship with the Lord is the path to instant blessing and the good life.

In reality, like Frederick Buechner wrote, in his biography on Bible characters, Moses’ life stands as a vivid lesson to us all that, when God gets hold of your life, your troubles have only just begun.

In fact, it is one of the chapters on Moses’ life that got me thinking about this whole subject.

In Exodus 5, after a long back-and-forth tug of war with God in the desert over going back to Egypt and delivering God’s people from slavery, Moses relents and reluctantly agrees to obey God.

We would assume, based on some of the popular theology of our day, and Moses’ agreement to obey God, that his good life lay just around the corner.

So, he heads back for his first God-directed encounter with Pharaoh, equipped with some supernatural demonstrations that God was with him.

So far so good.

But with all of us on the edge of our seats, waiting for Israel’s immediate deliverance, their breakthrough, the blessing… the narrator shocks our sensibilities by revealing that, far from a story book ending…

• Pharaoh rejects Moses’ God

• He rejects Moses’ request for deliverance.

• And, in fact, decrees to make life even harder for Moses and the people God sent Moses to deliver.

Of course, since we all know the story, there is an eventual deliverance from slavery and an exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land. But, we tend to forget that’s only after much hardship, persecution and struggle.

And that is a microcosm of the Christian life.

Obedience to God is not a revolving door to endless blessing and prosperity. Sometimes obedience opens the door to opposition and struggle.

But the beauty of our amazing salvation through Jesus Christ is we’re given strength for the battle and the assurance that His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

So, obey God and be ready for the battle, knowing that the God who began a good work in you WILL see it through to completion.

The final and ultimate victory will go to the persevering child of God and glory will go to Jesus for His amazing grace to bring you through.