I read this earlier today:

“‘I have no strategies in mind to give you a better marriage, better kids, a more complete recovery from sexual abuse, or quicker healing after your divorce. Nor, I believe, does God.’ He adds, ‘We can’t get life to work; it never will until heaven.’”
- Larry Crabb, in The Pressure’s Off, as cited in Christianity Today

Really? So, even as Christians, we are to resign ourselves to the fact that “this is as good as it gets”? The Holy Spirit cannot - or will not - work in our lives to bring about change, improve marriages, heal broken hearts, redeem shattered lives? The only difference between Christians and non-Christians, temporally speaking, is that we can draw near to God and they can’t?

Francis Schaeffer argued decades ago that, while total healing was not possible in this lifetime, substantial healing was: healing in our relationship with God, our relationships with others, and even our relationship with ourselves. Crabb, however, says no. Whom are we to believe? Schaeffer? Crabb? God?

It is somewhat remarkable to me that any psychologist would make such a statement, let alone a Christian psychologist who has sold thousands of books offering hope and relief to struggling believers. After The Marriage Builder, Effective Biblical Counseling, Inside Out, Connecting, Men & Women - now we find out that there’s really no hope of change? Do we get our money back?

I do not intend for this to be an attack on Crabb: I have been fortunate to have gotten to know him through a mutual friend, have talked casually with him about things, sat under his teaching, read his books, and listened to him preach. I have never questioned his sincerity, passion, or love for God. I like him. He’s an intriguing person. But I don’t always agree with him.

Now, in fairness to Crabb, I must admit that I have not read this particular book from which the quote was taken. Maybe the article took his quote out of context and Crabb is actually very optimistic and enthusiastic about - not just the possibility but - the inevitability of change for the Christian. Maybe, but this quote really does not strike me as being out of character for him. Like the Moody Blues, he’s a melancholy man.

The church unfortunately has been influenced by some beliefs from psychologists without always evaluating them biblically or theologically. There is a prevalent notion in many pews that - even for Christians - some situations are genuinely intractable and hopeless. God either won’t or can’t overcome our internal and external conflicts or the consequences of them, leaving us to suffer through life.

My concerns about this concept are legion, but foremost is the “I’m-a-poor-victim”/”I’m-such-a-martyr” attitude adopted by more than a few believers. If Crabb is correct, then we are all doomed by the vagaries of life. Until heaven, what has been is what is and what is is what will be. Get used to it.

Now, certainly suffering is a reality for Christians and times of difficulty are, as Crabb says, opportunities to seek comfort from God. A theology of suffering is woefully absent from most doctrinal statements and very much needed. I am not denying that. But if there is no hope in this lifetime, then there are some passages that make absolutely no sense to me. Consider, for example, Paul’s words to the believers at Corinth:

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” -
1 Cor 6.9-11

Perhaps I’m eisogeting, but Paul seems to be implying that change is possible and that we can escape from past behaviors. If he’s not saying that, then we would have to conclude that it would be acceptable to continue in the behaviors - fornication, homosexuality, coveting, drunkenness - since there is no strategy to overcome them. I find that hard to believe.

And if Paul isn’t holding forth the hope of change in that passage, then perhaps he’s saying it in Rom 6-8 when he teaches about being conformed - changed - into the image of Christ. If that process of conformation does not change things, then I’ve been a fool for over 30 years in thinking that God has made a difference in me and my relationships.

Contrary to what Crabb appears to be saying, there is hope - even in this lifetime. The Christian life is not primarily about improving our relationships and emotional state, but the presence of the Holy Spirit, the community of believers, the resurrection power within each of us does make a difference.

There is great reason to have hope in this lifetime and in the life to come. There is no need for an attitude of defeatism or resignation to circumstances. God does change people, God does answer prayer, God does have strategy. Paul wrote,

“If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.” - 1 Cor 15.19

He does not say we are to be pitied if we have hoped in Christ in this life, but that we are pitiful if we have hoped in Him in this life only. There is hope in Christ in this life, and it’s not only because of an eye to the future or intimacy with God now. Our greatest benefit surely comes with our glorification, but there is enormous benefit and change possible even now.

(Also available at Theologica.)


2 Cor 1.13