God's Obligation to Man

In many of the conversations that I have had with other church-going Christians, I find a common mindset regarding the relationship between God and Man. While this is not universal, it does seem to be more common than perhaps it should be.

Basically, there seems to be a number of Christians who have the perception that, by accepting God and Jesus, that their lives will be made easier and that they will have fewer problems and less pain. These are the people who find it difficult, during times of adversity, sickness, loss or other trials, to embrace the Lord and instead question His goodness and His faithfulness.

These are those Christians who ask questions like, "How could God allow this to happen to me?" Or some other variation of that question. Almost as if God is obligated in some way to make us happy or make our lives easier.

I've heard arguments against this mentality which made an analogy with humans taking care of their pets. I thought this was a rather amusing concept. But, I also think it is a very poignant one. We are not God's "pets." He does not sit on His throne in the heavens, looking down on us and making sure we're nice and cozy and warm.

While the analogy may be somewhat limited in certain respects, I do feel as though it addresses the heart of the matter with regard to God's role in our lives. Many Christians have mistakenly come to the belief that God is taking care of us like we humans take care of our pets.

We love our pets, feed them, give them a home, pet them, keep them safe, make sure they're warm and comfortable, provide toys for them to play with and generally try to keep them happy. (I won't go into the fact that many do this with children as well.) None of these things are bad. None of these things are evil. Plus, God does do some of these things for us, as well.

He provides us with food, shelter, love. He sustains us. We could go on and on about what he does do for us. But, I think there is an important distinction to make. God is not so concerned about our happiness or comfort. He is much more concerned with our relationship with Him.

Now, am I insinuating that God does not want us to be happy or comfortable? Not at all. What I am saying is that, relative to His concern for our relationship with Him and our eternal destiny, God is willing for us to suffer through some trials and tribulations, be unhappy and uncomfortable for a while if the end result is that we will spend eternity with Him.

Why is this a significant distinction to make? Because it makes a huge difference in how we respond to adversity in our lives. If we feel that God's job is to make us happy, then when adversity hits, we shake our fists at God and exclaim that He's not doing His job. As much as I hate to use examples from Hollywood, go ahead and watch "Bruce Almighty" with Jim Carrey and you'll see an example of a man who thought God's job was to make him happy.

Later in the movie, Carrey realizes that he needs to take responsibility for his own life and that God gives hime everything he needs to do that. That is the perception of those who don't feel that God is responsible for their personal happiness.

That second group of Christians, during trials and tribulations, will be drawn closer to God rather than moving away from Him. They trust that He has a plan and that He will give them the strength, courage, wisdom and whatever it is that they need to get through whatever difficult time they are going through.

It is vitally important to realize that God is not obligated to do anything for us. On the contrary, it is us who are obligated to Him. He desires, and in fact deserves, everything we have to offer. Just as the song from Third Day says:

"The only thing that I can give you
is this life you gave to me."
"Offering" - Third Day

When we start thinking God is supposed to make us happy, we essentially are attempting to change God into the same type of god that many ancient pagan religions worshipped. Those gods were created by man, for man. If you look at various pantheons, you will find a common theme in that these gods were created by man in an attempt to bring them health, wealth, happiness, prosperity, popularity, power, etc. They were very self-serving types of "worship."

The Christian God, the One God, is quite different. We were made by Him, for Him. Therefore, we literally owe Him everything that we have and everything that we are.

Which of these perspectives do you see God from?