Question:  Dear Greg,

            A question that creeps into my mind often is how to meet obligations such as school or work, that I do not now value?  Before, working and bettering myself was easy and it was a goal.  I wanted a big house, big car, etc.  Now I want to know God and be with my family.  Knowing that this life can end anytime seems to paralyze my ability to move forward and do what needs to be done. 

            Once I enjoyed lightening my hair, painting my nails, etc.  I used to enjoy looking my best.  Now, I struggle with what is “right”.  If my “body is a temple” then maybe it should be aesthetically cared for.  I apologize for my inability to find the correct words.  I’m not sure that I’m making my point so that you may answer my question.

            Also, with God’s omnipotence, does he already know the future?  If yes, then why do we pray to be healed when we are sick?  What is the “power of prayer”?  Is prayer just a mechanism to bring our minds closer to our hearts and thus more aware of God?

            Thank you,

            Michelle

Answer:  Dear Michelle,

            Excellent questions!  The tension between being in this world but not of it, the tension between living a new life in Jesus with a focus on the future of eternity while still being in this body of flesh was addressed by Paul.  He said that we would “prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.  So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it” (2 Corinthians 5:8-9).

            There have been Christians who withdrew from society, becoming ascetics, hermits and separatists.  In fact, there still are Christians who see their calling in a similar way and live their lives accordingly.  To a degree all Christians are apart from this culture because our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20).  Each of us must determine what God wants us to do in this respect.  Wisdom we can draw from the history of Christianity and biblical teaching about being light and salt in our world would seem to say that our lives should enable us to allow the light of Jesus Christ to be reflected in us so that others may see him through us.  Such a view would see our earthly pursuits in terms of dress and appearance, career, work, family, education, etc. as important.  Not the most important, but important as we are tools in God’s hands.

            Your second question is huge—involving God’s omnipotence, sovereignty and why we should even bother to pray if God has already determined what is going to happen.  The fact of who and what God is has everything to do with our salvation.  He is perfectly holy, we are not.  He loves us in spite of what we do. Because of his love he saves us, not because we are good, but because he is good.  We are saved because of who he is, not because of who we are.  Who we are, what we understand, what we even do or fail to do is not the bottom line.  But because it is not the bottom line, that fact does not mean that God wants us to behave in any manner we please.

            Prayer, for example.  Why pray if God has already decided what he is going to do?  Why pray if God is not going to change his mind?  The point is that God is God and we are not.  God never told us that the purpose of prayer was for us to try to manipulate him.  The purpose of prayer is not to change God; it is to present ourselves and yield ourselves to God so that he may, as the Master potter, change us.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht