There is an old saying that people love to share any time someone is going through anything rough in their lives, “God will never give you more than you can bear.” This statement is completely false and is not found anywhere in the Bible, but it is a twisting of Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
This scripture shows us that God will allow us to be tempted but he will always provide a way of escape and we will not be tempted beyond what can be resisted. Instead, we are told throughout scripture many times that we will experience trials as a follower of Christ. Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:22, “22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” And in John 15:18-19, “18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
We are told we will be hated by the world, but we should rejoice in this because they hated Christ. Those that preach that God just wants you to be happy, and that God wants to make you rich, are teaching a perverted gospel that has nothing to do with Jesus or His followers. This false gospel is worldly and even occultic influences creeping their way into the Church. This is how the truth of the Gospel of Christ is perverted into a false gospel of the American dream that is leading people to hell. Jesus warned about them in Matthew 7:15, “15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” Throughout the New Testament and in other historical texts we read and learn about how the disciples were persecuted for the sake of Christ, and how Christians throughout history have been tortured and killed for the name of Christ.
What the world doesn’t understand, is that we are not a part of this world. Our home is in an everlasting kingdom ruled by the sovereign God of all creation. Anything that is done to us while on this earth is simply temporal. We must look past the temporal and to the eternal that Christ has promised.
In Romans 12:2 Paul says, “2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Again, in James 1:2-4 we are instructed to, “2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” We will be tested, and we will experience many trials in this life, but it is all temporary and produces lives that look to eternity, steadfast, and lacking in nothing. By being tested we will know what God finds good.
