Gospel Artist Kirk Franklin Address ‘Misconception’ That God Exists to Make People Happy

Grammy award winning gospel artist Kirk Franklin recently addressed a “misconception” that God only exists for the happiness of humanity, instead of drawing them to Himself.

“We have this misconception that God is trying to make us happy,” he told The Christian Post in a recent interview. “God is not trying to make us happy. God is trying to make us His. And so whatever process comes from that. Once again, I know that sounds foolish to the world. It sounds foolish to humanism.”

“And our natural intelligence doesn’t have the capacity to access and program the spiritual,” he added. “And again, things of the spiritual a lot of times have been abused and manipulated.”

The gospel singer noted that many men and women in the Bible experienced a season where God broke them before later using them.

“Breaking is not all bad,” Franklin explained. “I know that it may seem kind of intuitive to Western culture because, in America, we pride ourselves on being strong and not easily broken. But gold doesn’t become pure until it’s taken through the fire.”

For anyone struggling with difficulties in life, Franklin suggests they should talk to God regarding their plight.

“Ask God, ‘What are you doing with this?’ ‘Are you using this?’ Because sometimes, you’re in a situation that doesn’t seem to be getting better,” he said. “Maybe it’s because God may not want it to get better.”

Franklin also stressed that people should stop simply talking about Christ, but to live out their conversations to hurting people across the world.

“I think that it is a tragedy for us to have this much Jesus conversation in the world, but there is not enough of the residue of the conversation in tangible ways in the lives of people,” the artist explained.

“All of the wealth in the world and the level of poverty and corruption … the people continue to hurt,” he continued. “And so if you have any indication, any inclination to being able to have a monotheistic mindset, there’s no way that you can see people hurt and think that God is smiling upon what we do.”

Franklin, a winner of 16 Grammy awards, recently re-released his 1998 hit song “Lean on Me” with Compassion International, highlighting the voices of impoverished youth across the globe.

“It’s a great honor to work with Compassion and to be part of their global reach, especially during this climate, during this time,” Franklin told The Christian Post. “It is really overwhelming to be able to pull out a song that’s over two decades [old] and see it be able to have an impact and to be able to remind each other of the bigger message, that we’re the hands and feet of God, and in very tangible ways.”

He hopes that the new rendition would encourage people to be there for one another “as brothers and sisters,” in difficult times by demonstrating compassion, empathy and love.

The original song, which was on Franklin’s 1998 album “The Nu Nation Project,” topped the Billboard Contemporary Christian Albums chart for 23 weeks and the Billboard Gospel Albums chart for 49 weeks.

Meanwhile, the new song garnered over 131,000 views on YouTube as of Friday.

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/GordonImages

Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer. He is also the co-hosts of the For Your Soul podcast, which seeks to equip the church with biblical truth and sound doctrine. Visit his blog Blessed Are The Forgiven.

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