If We Believe in a Good God, Why Aren't We Thriving??

If We Believe in a Good God, Why Aren’t We Thriving?  

The Bible says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7, NKJV). For MyRon Edmonds, that describes a major principle in life. It’s echoed by a quote from Ellen White: “Many whom God has qualified to do excellent work accomplish very little, because they attempt little” (Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 331). 

Edmonds points to Jesus’ parable of the talents about the man who buried his gold instead of investing it and told his master, “I knew you were a hard man.” 

Edmonds says, “The only reason why somebody would attempt little is because they think small. Their thinking has been impaired by life. We've got a lot of people who've been beat down by life, families, generational stuff. Then they come to church and [people] say, ‘Hey, you have it together. Be a good Adventist, don’t make any mistakes.’” 

Edmonds says that while they are dealing with all that shame, guilt and pain, “they're just trying to pretend like they’ve got it going on. But they don’t feel so good about themselves.” 

He says this happens because some people “can’t get out of their own way because of how they think. They make God small. And by extension, if God is small, and God doesn’t love them, if God is mean and angry, then He doesn't really care too much about me and what I do with my life.” Instead, Edmonds says, they just coast in life, thinking, “I’ll do enough to get by.”