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The Delusion of Easy Street from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

During the life of the Apostle Paul, a comfortable, soft life, living on easy street, was considered a sure sign of a righteous man. You were living in God's favor. That is why when Jesus Christ said that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, the disciples with Him were shocked and said, "Who then can be saved?" (Luke 18:26).

Being rich was considered the sure sign of living right before God, and if you were sick, diseased, or poor, your sinful ways had brought you under His judgment. Much like in the book of Job: while Job suffered, his friends accused him of wrongdoing and that it was sin which had brought the chastisement of God on him. The Lord set them straight in chapter 42 (Job 42:7). 

So with that in mind, the Apostle Paul came to the region of Galatia, modern Turkey, and began preaching to the people there. He had to have been a sight to behold, for he had been beaten, stoned, and left for dead not far away in Lystra (Acts 14:19). 

Paul was sick, possibly with malaria, depression, bad eyesight, or the "thorn in the flesh," which he pleaded with God to remove three times, to no avail. The Lord told him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Well, in that light, Paul was certainly strong...

What a sight Paul must have been standing there before them: beaten, bruised, and sick, preaching about a Man named Jesus Christ, whose mother was a virgin. Saying that this Jesus was crucified with criminals, died, and was put in a tomb, but fortunately rose from the dead three days later and then appeared to him on the road to Damascus in a blinding light (Acts 9:3). "Uh-huh. I gotta go now..."

Paul certainly didn't look like he was living under the divine favor of God, or do we have what that looks like wrong? Are we living under the delusion that "life on easy street" means that God is happy with us? This is how the Apostle Paul reminisced about his summers abroad: 

(2 Corinthians 11:24–27 NKJV)  From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness...

Sheesh, your divine favor isn't sounding so delightful to me there, Paul. Or are we living in a dream world with our heads in the sand like a super-spiritual ostrich? Do you think the sinless Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, being crucified was fair? Yet, He didn't say a word. 

(Isaiah 53:6–7 NKJV)  All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.

Do you feel you are being treated unfairly? Do you really want to talk about being fair to God after He gave His only Son to save you? Will you sit above Him, judge His behavior, and tell Him He is wrong because something isn't going as you planned? If so, then something needs to be nailed to the cross to die. 

Do you know that the mighty prophet Elisha who raised people from the dead, died of an illness after sixty years of serving God? (2 Kings 13:14). His bones were so holy they revived a dead corpse who was thrown in his tomb (2 Kings 13:21). Sometimes God's plans for us wouldn't be our first choice, would they? 

The Lord is called "the God of Truth" (Isaiah 65:16, Psalm 31:5), not the God of emotionalism. He will not permit us to live in a dream world but will happily burst our little bubbles and snap us back to reality. His grace is sufficient for you. 

Unrealistic expectations bring disappointment. The enemy, satan, always desires to keep you off balance, off center, and to make you more like him. To recruit you. To stoke your expectations really high, then douse them with water so you collapse into a failed state of depression and turn on the body of Christ and even God. Oh, woe is me! The Lord wants you balanced and grounded in reality. Standing on the rock, not on the shifting sand of emotion. 

Busted spiritual bubbles and disillusionment can lead to sullen anger. If you find yourself becoming "an accuser of the brethren" and judging God on what He should and should not do, you need to stop and consider your ways, young grasshopper. It is He that sits above the heavens, not us. We are ants crawling around on a speck of dust spiraling through space. Yet, we think that even that space revolves around us. Rest assured, not everyone in heaven does... 

(Philippians 2:5–11 NASB)  Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

My point is that we should always pray for the best and not lose heart, but don't get angry with God if He chooses to do something else instead. Don't become disillusioned when your five-year plan takes a left turn. Let God be God, and you His servant. 

I am a pastor today because the Lord closed our computer business while we were praying for Him not to. Moses was a shepherd when the Lord told him to go to Egypt and deliver His people. Peter was a fisherman before he had to leave his boat and become an Apostle. The Apostle Paul was a Christian hunter before he "saw the light" and wrote most of the New Testament. 

God is not a respecter of human pride, and He will stomp it out wherever He finds it. Oh, it hurts, but He will happily remove it like a thorn because it is a hindrance to your potential. A wild horse has to be broken before it can be used. Learn to be content in whatever state you find yourself in. I close with these thoughts:

(1 Timothy 6:6–8 NKJV)  Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.

(Philippians 4:11–13 NASB)  Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

You can pray this with me if you like: 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You so much for another day to become better. Please help me see the big picture and recognize how blessed I really am. Thank You for taking care of me! Forgive me for ever blaming You for my circumstances. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!