Sifting for Truth

"I believed in Jesus.  I went to church all the time.  Then my dad got sick.  I prayed for him to get better, but he never did.  So I stopped praying."

I have heard a version of this story many times.  I'll ask people about their faith or spiritual beliefs and sometimes I come across stories similar to this one.  Something happened--an illness or job loss or a death--and it caused the person to abandon their faith.  For some reason, they didn't believe God existed or cared or had the power to intervene.  Maybe they never did.

Far too often in our society, we take the easy way out.  As human beings, we like the path of least resistance.  If it doesn't fit with our own ideology, we drop it instead of seeking a great understanding of what is happening.

Or, as the popular phrase goes, when the going gets tough, we go.

In our society, we have the universal belief that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people.  If something bad happens, I must be a bad person or I did something wrong or God doesn't love me.  So when we can't reconcile a bad thing happening to a good person, we blame God or doubt his existence.

But contrary to popular sentiment, God is not in the "making you happy" business.  God wants his will to be done.  We wants us to follow him and his ways, and in doing so, we accomplish his will on this earth.  Sometimes, that means you won't be happy.

In Luke 22:31-32, Jesus reveals to Peter that Satan has asked to sift him as wheat.  Sifting is a violent process of separating the wheat kernel from the rest of the plant.  In Jesus' time, it requires flailing and sorting and none of that felt good to the wheat.  Sifting is not fun.  It hurts.

Jesus reveals that Satan has asked to hurt Peter, and implied in Jesus' comments is that permission has been granted.  He specifically says that in the process Jesus has prayed for Peter and that when it's all over, he wants him to encourage the other disciples who will undergo their own sifting.

Make no mistake, Jesus has revealed to Peter that he has allowed some bad things to happen to him.  What did Peter do to deserve this?  Nothing.  He was sifted simply because he was a follower of Jesus.  When Jesus says Satan asked to sift you, the "you" in the Greek is plural.  It means Satan has asked to sift all of Jesus' disciples.  He has asked to sift me and you and anyone who claims to follow Christ.

Why would Jesus allow this to happen?  To purify us.  To separate the kernel from the rest of the plant.  At our core, we either follow Jesus or we follow Satan.  By sifting, we find out who we really follow.  For those who truly follow Christ, faith never fails.  We may fail individually.  Peter did.  But our faith never fails.  Neither did Peter's.

The sifting process hurts.  It's allowed by Jesus.  And on the other side, our faith, if it is true and genuine, will be ever stronger.

Remember that when trials come.  You, like Peter, will be sifted like wheat.

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