Life Sucks And Then You Die

Ever feel like you’re working on your doctorate at Life Sucks University? Let’s be honest, sometimes life sucks. I have discovered that this is a fact that most Christians don’t like to admit. They pretend that things are going better than they actually are. They pretend not to be mad at God.

They pretend.

>But sometimes life does suck. And to avoid the crisis of faith that this admission will inevitably bring on, they tell themselves (and probably you if you’re in the room with them) things like:

• God works in mysterious ways.
• Everything happens for a reason.
• This is a just test.

I think these phrases don’t bring any comfort. In fact, I think they bring even more frustration when you hear them and you’re in the middle of your life sucking. But sometimes life just sucks. Let’s just admit it.

>Plus, people who don’t follow Jesus would probably be more open to God if we were just honest.

I think we try to sell people a faith that doesn’t exist. We present this existence of no pain and no heartache if someone just follows God, but it just isn’t true. It isn’t real.

It doesn’t exist.

And in the process of selling a faith like this we actually set people up to fail in their relationship with God. Because sometimes life sucks-and eventually they will have another sucky experience-and they will walk away from God because we didn’t warn them (you can read more about that in this post). They will think that God isn’t real because of what we made walking with God look like. They will probably even think that God is mad at them.

>They will have a crisis of faith because of a false expectation that WE gave them.

Let’s agree not to do that. If we want people to develop a faith in Jesus that is enduring we have to be prepared to admit that sometimes life sucks:

• Sometimes bad things happen to good people.
• Sometimes things just don’t make sense.
• Sometimes there just isn’t a reason.

Sometimes your life will suck. Don’t avoid it. Don’t trivialize it when it happens in the lives of those around you. Just admit it and listen to them as they weather this storm.

Believe it or not, there is some comfort in admitting life sucks sometimes.

>>>