One day last week, I stumbled across the website of a man who pastored the church I grew up in from the time I was a baby until I was about eight or nine years old. Noticing he had the audio for one sermon up for promotion, I decided to give it a listen. And as hard as it was to listen to an angry old man yell for an hour, I made it to the end.

In one especially peculiar interpretation, one that I can’t see coming from any place other than a Western, “civilized” culture, he repeated a mantra I remember hearing growing up, that “God does things decently and in order.”

But what really caught my ear was his description of the Holy Spirit as a magic genie. Of course, he didn’t use those exact words, but his description left little doubt about what he was selling.

“There is not a single problem in the church of Jesus Christ that cannot be solved by Spirit-filled believers. There’s isn’t a financial problem that any church has that will not be solved and settled when we have Spirit-filled believers. There isn’t a sinner that is exempt from the witnessing of a church that is full of Spirit-filled believers. When we’re filled with the Spirit of God, the sinner will be the first to know it. Our bills will be paid. Our families will be reunited. Joy and peace and love will be shared among the brethren. And little ‘ole side issues won’t always be splitting us and splitting us. Oh, may God give us a revival.”

Listening to those words, to that promise, I remembered a passage from Donald Miller’s new book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, that I quoted in my review for the Rabbit Room, Who Do You Want to Be?

Growing up in church, we were taught that Jesus was the answer to all our problems. We were taught that there was a circle-shaped hole in our heart and that we had tried to fill it with the square peg of sex, drugs, and rock and roll; but only the circle peg of Jesus could fill our hole. I became a Christian based, in part, on this promise, but the hole never really went away. To be sure, I like Jesus, and I still follow him, but the idea that Jesus will make everything better is a lie. It’s basically biblical theology translated into the language of infomercials. The truth is, the apostles never really promise Jesus is going to make everything better here on earth. Can you imagine an infomercial with Paul, testifying to the amazing product of Jesus, saying that he once had power and authority, and since he tried Jesus he’s been moved from prison to prison, beaten, and routinely bitten by snakes? I don’t think many people would be buying that product. Peter couldn’t do any better. He was crucified upside down, by some reports. Stephen was stoned outside the city gates. John, supposedly, was boiled in oil. It’s hard to imagine how a religion steeped in so much pain and sacrifice turned into a promise for earthly euphoria. I think Jesus can make things better, but I don’t think he is going to make things perfect. Not here, and not now.

What I love about the true gospel of Jesus, though, is that it offers hope. Paul has hope our souls will be made complete. It will happen in heaven, where there will be a wedding and a feast. I wonder if that’s why so many happy stories end in weddings and feasts. Paul says Jesus is the hope that will not disappoint. I find that comforting. That helps me get through the day, to be honest. It even makes me content somehow. Maybe that’s what Paul meant when he said he’d learned the secret of contentment.