"And They Lived Joyfully Ever After"

“And they lived happily ever after.” This typical ending to fairy tales needs to remain in fairy tales. Unfortunately, it has found its way into the mainstream evangelical message. It affects the way the Gospel is presented: “If you trust Jesus, your life will be much happier and you will have fewer struggles.” It affects the way the Bible is taught: “God has willed that you be wealthy and healthy. Just have more faith and your wallet will be immediately overflowing and your health will be free of sickness.” It affects the way people wander away from the church: “I was promised fewer problems, more money and better health. This has not happened to me, so why stick around any longer. It is time to try something else.”

Therefore, the “they lived happily ever after” doctrine is not only wrong, it is dangerous. It is dangerous because it is not Biblical. Here is a truth upon which you must build you life in Christ: A non-biblical doctrine is a dangerous doctrine.

• It is dangerous because is ignores and neglects the clear biblical teaching on the intensity and the impact of sin and the total ruin that is the result.
• It is dangerous because is attempts to put God is a box that we have constructed based upon our fallen desires and our earthly expectations.

Let me encourage you to…

…Engage in Biblical Examination. Become a Berean. This applies to this blog. Don’t believe this because I wrote it. Scrutinize this content in the light of the Bible. “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11). Notice that the Bereans searched the scriptures daily! Steady, systematic examination of the Bible is an absolute essential for every follower of Christ. Neglect it to your own spiritual peril. Neglect it and the insidious false teachings of the present evil age will begin to seep into your life and sap you of every ounce of spiritual energy.

…Develop Biblical Expectations. Expect victories and defeats. Expect easy days and difficult days. Expect positive events and negative events. Expect triumphs and tribulations. Expect satisfaction and suffering. Expect some people to like you and some people to hate you. If you expect only the easy, the positive, the healthy, the victories…you will be disappointed and become disenchanted with all of life.

…Thank the Lord for All Experiences. Our lives, which mean our day-by-day experiences, are under the control of our Sovereign Lord. He is always working for His glory and the good of His people. Therefore, the Bible calls us to “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). In fact, a Biblical case can be constructed that the greatest spiritual work is accomplished in our lives during times and situations that we would term painful, negative and difficult life experiences. Charles Spurgeon highlights this in the opening paragraph of a sermon he delivered in 1857 on Jonah 2:9: “Most of the grand truths of God have been learned by trouble; they must be burned into us with the hot iron of affliction, otherwise we shall not truly receive them. No man is competent to judge in matters of the kingdom, until first he has been tried; since there are many things to be learned in the depths which we can never know in the heights. We discover many things in the caverns of the ocean, which, though we had soared into heaven, we could never have known.”

The Lord has designed something far greater than happiness for our lives. He is at work to develop profound, practical holiness in every follower of Christ. That He is our Lord calls us to relinquish our control of our own lives and gladly submit our lives to His control.

Jesus said, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11). “Be joyful always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16).

Therefore, the follower of Christ can live ‘joyfully ever after.’ And this is literally true, both here on earth and in eternity!