Why Jesus Came, Luke 9:56
"For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."
Jesus did not come to the earth to destroy men's lives, but to save them. In context, Jesus is rebuking His disciples James and John (also known as "the sons of thunder", and we shall see why) for they, when seeing that the Samaritans did not receive Jesus, wanted to call down fire from heaven to consume the people and destroy them. But the whole purpose of Jesus' coming was not to condemn people for what they had done wrong, but to save people's lives in dying for those very sins that would condemn them. He came to save, restore, renew, and bring forgiveness.
This doesn't change once we come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. He didn't have a gracious, loving, forgiving attitude before we came to Him and then put on a new one once we became His children, rebuking us harshly and laying guilt trips on us. On the same note, He also didn't come to take away our joy and our fun and to impose on us legalistic rituals. He condemned the Pharisees' legalism as it blinded them from coming to know God, causing them to become prideful and arrogant and lead others astray as well.
Jesus didn't come to destroy our lives, but to save them. He didn't come to make our lives miserable and painful, but rather filled with an overabundance of joy and blessing. We may think, as we go through the trials of life that God allows, that He is letting us go through such things to break us to the point of utter despair. We know He wants us to be humble servants, and so we assume that He won't give to us anything more than what we need or bless us beyond what we can even imagine. We have a twisted idea that some how, some way, though God is loving and merciful and gracious, that He is only going to show us the minimum amounts of love, grace, and mercy. But as a friend of mine would so accurately say, "That's a lie from the pit of hell!"
God wants us to be happy. He isn't out to make sure there is no temporal joy in our lives. He's not out to rob us of our friends so that we learn the hard lessons of only depending on Him. Yes, He wants us to learn that lesson, but He's not going to teach us the hard way unless we're so hardened and stubborn that He has no choice but to do so. God is gentle and kind and loving-- He will do things the easier, kinder, gentler way first. It would behoove us, therefore, to heed His still, small voice when it comes rather than to harden our hearts and wait for Him to shout at us through difficult and painful circumstances. But even if it comes to that, it will all be to His glory, and He will not give you any more than you can bear. He is wonderfully gracious! He doesn't want to destroy us, but save us, build us up, and bless us!
We really must erase from our minds the concept that God is an impatient or angry Father that is just waiting for us to screw up so He can punish us. When you love someone, you do not delight in punishing them, but you know you have to for their own good. If you don't discipline them, they will not learn and will become out of control and rebellious, ruining their own lives.
Sometimes though we may say we love somebody, deep down we are somewhat glad when they receive discipline or rebuke, because they have somehow wronged us or we just don't like them for some reason, and we feel they are getting what they deserve. This is... not right, and it is... not God. God's love is above this. He doesn't say He loves us, blessing us just to prove His word, and then rejoicing in our troubles and trials, even inflicting more that what is necessary on us because it pleases Him. This is truly sick and twisted "love" (if you can call it that), and I believe this attitude is totally a result of our fallen, sinful nature.
Isaiah tells us in chapter fifty-five that God's ways are higher than our ways, far beyond our knowing or finding out. Why should we attribute sinful, human characteristics to our kind and benevolent, all powerful, perfectly loving God? We should not! Any tendancy to do so is complete error. And attempt to understand with our feeble minds the incomprehensible Creator of the universe is completely pointless and only leads us to warped concepts of God. It is best to simply walk by faith and let God love us, accepting humbly His awesome and gracious love. Never think for one moment that Jesus is down on you or mad at you-- because He has come to save your life and create it anew, not destroy you or tear you down.