Real Life Q&A with Camy Tang

July 2004

Q: Some days I wake up and I really just don't want to be a Christian. Does it mean I'm a bad child of God? Why do I have to be faithful all the time, especially when things are so rotten?

A: Most of you went to high school and junior high school graduations last month, whether your friends, cousins, or your own. Wasn't it neat to see everyone so excited? Even the meanest, most cranky teachers were happy for the graduates (or just happy to have them out of their hair).

So why would the teachers be happy for them? (Let's pretend it's more than just relief that they're out of school.) Did they suddenly develop amnesia about the notes in class, the whispering, the cheating, the lying, the homework the dog ate? Come to think of it, with a classroom like that, why bother?

Most teachers teach for one reason--the kids walking on that stage, receiving their diplomas. They have their eyes on the ultimate goal, that piece of paper that enables countless possibilities and opportunities. So they withstand the notes in class, the whispering, the cheating, the lying, the homework the dog ate. The day-to-day plodding along. Because they know that if they can push the kids hard enough, that diploma is worth all their suffering (although let's hope you don't cause so much suffering to your own teachers).

Christianity is the same way, only you are your own teacher. If you push and persevere and keep plodding along, one day Jesus will hand over your diploma with the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Heaven will be WAY cooler than ANYTHING you can imagine. And not just the long term goal of heaven--Jesus promises us blessings NOW, if we are faithful to Him (see Psalm 25 for one of many Bible passages about it). Both heaven and those earthly blessings will be worth the effort to do more than a ten-second quiet time, to swallow our angry words at stupid siblings, to be calm and accepting to totally unjust teachers, to obey parents even (and especially) when they don't make sense.

Read Philippians 4:12-14 and keep your eyes on the prize.

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