I struggle to figure out why everyone doesn’t at least want the message of the Bible to be true. It seems pretty awesome to me that God would become human, have a wrestling match with death, and come out victorious on our behalf.

This good news tells the clear message that there’s an almighty God who thinks the universe of us. We’re a big deal to him.

But that can make it difficult when it doesn’t feel like we’re a big deal to him.

Unforeseen circumstances can completely change the trajectory of your life in an instant. Sometimes the good things that God promises you seem to fade amidst all the bad things happening. Does he still love you? Does he still care?

God’s perspective is eternally greater than ours. Our default is that we want God to bless us for this short period of life. But his goal is to use this short life to shape us for eternity.

So while God blesses you with things that are good, he ultimately shapes you with things that are not.

When money is tight, our prayer for daily bread becomes sincere. When doctors don’t know what to do, our hope falls back on what God has already done. When the inevitability of death hits home, the resurrection comfort becomes alive.

“That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).