I was reading over John 13-17 (the Upper Room Discourse) and was hit mightily by 16:14 "Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." I cringe from the implications of this verse. Doesn't it sound like health, wealth, and prosperity teaching?
This verse (along with much of my theology) does not fit into the real, painful world that I see live in. It feels like it fits into that make-believe world where people deny their pain and then go crazy and eventually have a mental breakdown because they are so out of touch with reality. A little cynical, but I've seen it happen.
Yet our God is so much bigger then we can imagine. Christ never denies the reality or the pain of the cross. He faces it head on - he knows that it will be work to walk through it, yet he does it "for the joy set before him" (Heb 12:2). I think for so much of my life I've looked at the pain in front of me and fail to see the joy that will follow.
God is calling us not to deny the reality of the pain, but not to get caught in it either. He wants so much more for us. He wants us to have an abundant life (John 10:10b). God is attached to us and aware of the "now" of what we are going through; yet He sees beyond that. If we fail to believe the fullness of Scripture we will get stuck. Stuck as pessimistic who live in this reality or stuck in denial who fail to see painful reality. Let us learn to live graciously in the tension of the now; recognizing the joy and abundant life that God promises (and will give!), yet walking with bold humility through the "now" of life.
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