Featured Biblical tension

Christianity is a life of paradoxes and tensions...ultimately the greatest being that in my most devoted state of giving my life over to Christ wholly and freely I become, through my enslavery to Him, free.

 

I wonder where that poster came up with the notion that God expects us to live in "peace and joy..."

From what I can tell, the Bible nowhere says that a Christian life will be easy. In fact, it usually says we'll have it harder than nonbelievers because the world will actively persecute us.

Peter notes that believers will suffer trials and tribulations, that we will face tensions. He knew this firsthand, as Paul confronted him to his face about certain things. We'll have tension between ourselves and fellow believers, but through God we can see our way to a edifying conclusion.

According to the words of Jesus, we will face trouble and tension in this world, but we should be glad, because we are in Him, and He has overcome the world.

 

Thank you, sir. I try... though many times it feels more like :tonofbricks:

 

First one that came to mind.... (Hebrews 11:13-16 KJV)

13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.

16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

 

Already But Not Yet!

http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/living-in-the-tension/

 

Perhaps from passages such as:

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. Phil 4:7

whom not having seen ye love; on whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 1 Pet 1

for the kingdom of God is...righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Ro 14:17

Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto him for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye grieved; for the joy of Jehovah is your strength. Neh 8:10

....and there's many others.

And on another thread you yourself quoted:

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; And uphold me with a willing spirit. Ps 51:12 (incidentally, the two aspects of our one salvation is contained within that phrase "the joy of thy salvation")

BTW, it's when this contentment within me is disrupted that I suddenly become aware of something amiss, usually when I'm doing or thinking about something that I shouldn't oughta be doing or thinking about.

 

Icon.,
If there is no peace in one's life they are not spiritually right with God.
If they don't have joy in their life, they are not spiritually right with God.
Both are fruits of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit ought to be evident in every believer on a consistent basis.

It was the OP of the other thread that in Calvinism, especially New Calvinism, that pointed this out. There is a tension created between the sovereignty of God and human responsibility. Believers are caught between the two. If God is sovereign he will work all things out according to His will. If one leans too far that way, then he will absolve himself of personal responsibility for then he puts the responsibility on God to "work all things out."
On the other hand if a believer takes upon himself human responsibility, which he should, he is condemned for not allowing God to have the glory. He is living a life of works. That is the paradigm of tension that Calvinism has set up, and a troubling one at that.

 

I like that....but the world does do somethings right. Microbrews for example.:godisgood:

 

Yes, as there is a big tension between the fact that while the kingdom of God has come upon this earth in a limited sense, it will require the Second coming to Jesus to bring it fully here upon the earth, as we live between the time when this world system is still ran by Satan, and it will be run by Jesus when he returns to usher in messianic age!

 

KYR - Nicely answered. Thank you.

I realized after my initial response that I did not appropriately quote the OP, but the thread seemed to kind of peter out from my perspective, so I left it be. I should've said, "I wonder where that poster came up with the notion that God expects us to live in "a world of peace and joy..."

I don't see any scripture that leads me to believe the world will ever be peaceful and joyous, even though our individual lives can be. We can obviously have joy in His salvation. We can obviously live peacefully with our brethren. But some people, namely those in opposition to Christianity or in open rebellion against God, seemingly refuse to seek peace.

I apologize for the confusion. I failed to properly quote. I did not intend any misrepresentation of the OP.