It took me a long time to figure all this out, to understand that even when God is with me, life is not always going to turn out the way I hoped. I knew there would be disappointments and struggles. But part of me still wanted to believe my faith could act like a king sized ibuprofen. I wanted to believe that as long as I knew God was with me, the pain of those difficult moment would be eased.
Category Archives: Wilson
Faith is not “King Sized Ibuprofen”
A Quick Spiritual Transaction
I think we often treat God like we do a vending machine. When you walk up to a vending machine, you expect to insert the appropriate amount of money, press the correct number or code, and out will pop whatever you were hungry for. The whole process takes about forty-five seconds.
We expect the same thing with God. Maybe not consciously. Maybe we’d never say it. But we still assume that if we do all the right things, say all the right things, and have the right attitude, we can simply press a magic spiritual button and get whatever it is we desire in the moment. We are looking for a quick spiritual transaction that doesn’t necessarily lead to a deeper lever of intimacy but gives us what we want. And like children, we want it now!
