So what was the point ?

Is God up there somewhere just looking for a chance to ruin our good time? Does He even notice? Are we on our own with no hope for help or encouragement in our time of need? To be honest I have learned so much since the changes that have occurred to me in the last 5 years through the circumstances that I have described in my first 2 blogs. I did not want to admit it to myself that I was often angry at God, disappointed in the way He would treat me (even though I was trying so hard for Him), and I found that I was using prayer as a vehicle to accuse Him. In our prayer times it would go something like this "God we are waiting here faithfully for You and You are not showing up. We will keep on trying, but what will it take to get You to move? We know you are reluctant to join us without the proper sacrifice and we will do whatever it takes to finally get You moving."

I know that this is a strong statement.  Without realizing it, I believe many in the body of Christ to include myself with this approach have changed the way orthodox christianity defines the way God interacts with man and man interacts with God. I believe it takes the good news of our faith and turns it into a list of do's and don'ts (which is the law as described in Galatians).

I was in a situation where I felt I constantly had to monitor myself to make sure God wouldn't get mad at me and leave me alone with my sin. That if I did all the rights He wanted me to do and avoid the wrongs He would be happy with me and the result would be He would bless my life. I don't how those thoughts got to the center of my devotion, but looking back I know that it is true. And I beleive I have seen it and heard it from many others as I have pastored over the years. An old sage once said" What if you spent your whole life making apple pies for God and in the end found out God didn't like apple pie?" It is my observasion that too much of twentith century christianity will be seen it that way as we look back at it years from now.