Matthew 5:45 - He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Why do bad things happen to good people? There is not always an easy answer but I would like to share a thought on the subject. We live in an imperfect world. Much of what is wrong in our world is a product of mankind's sinful state. That does not mean that any individual person has sinned more than another. It means that the evil in our world is a product of man's original sin.
God created a perfect paradise for man to live in. Adam and Eve introduced sin to the world and our world drastically changed. We don't know all that the change entailed but we can deduce a few things. Before this time there was no sickness, no death, no pain, etc. The ground grew only good fruits. Thorns and thistles are part of because of the curse that sin brought (Genesis 3:18). Basically everything bad happened because of sin. I am convinced their were no poisonous spiders and no deadly snakes. Everything was perfect!
What about sickness? Why do some people suffer sickness when others seem to be well their whole lives. Is it because of personal sin? In John 9:3, the story of a man born blind, Jesus made it clear that sickness is not necessarily caused by personal sin. Rather we humans are products of thousands of years of humans living under the curse of sin. People with high blood pressure have children and pass the trait on. Two people whose genes aren't compatible get married and they have a handicapped child and so forth. And yes we know that certain lifestyle choices do make things worse but this is not always the case either. We see seemingly healthy people get stricken with cancer while others are spared.
There is a temptation in our world to blame things on God. God, why did you let this happen? The bottom line is that God gave man a free will. Unfortunately, man chose to participate in sin and allow evil to enter our world. Much that we suffer is a result of that evil and not a result of God's judgment. The struggles we go through are usually neither our fault nor God's fault but the result of an imperfect world.
So does this mean God is absent from the whole process. No it doesn't. He is able to heal. Many of us can attest to witnessing great miracles. But God doesn't always heal everyone and many times we don't understand why He doesn't. One thing I can say is that God is fair and just. He never makes mistakes. We must be careful not to blame God by saying He isn't fair or just. Why does he allow bad things to happen to the righteous. It may be to show the unrighteous that He is fair.
There are people who have been faithful to God through very difficult circumstances while others turn their backs on God in the slightest trial. By allowing His children to go through difficulty, God is assuring the sinner that He will not be able to claim innocence on judgment day. He will not be able to say He couldn't live for God because life was too hard. God will be able to point to others who were faithful unto death and use them as an example of faithfulness. Just thing about it - you may be in a trial and wondering what you did to deserve this. It probably doesn't have very much to do with you. It maybe that God is using you as a testimony of His faithfulness to someone else.
We often pray for God to use us for His glory. We want to witness to others and win souls to Christ. Yet we don't often consider that the trials we go through might be God's way of using us. What greater testimony is there to the unbeliever than to see a Christian persevere under great difficulty. The next time you find yourself in a trial you might want to consider this: "God, am I being used to show your faithfulness to another?" If so, give me the strength to endure so that someone else will see your glory in the miracle.
Yours in Christ's Service,
Rev. Sullivan Jones
Why do bad things happen to good people? There is not always an easy answer but I would like to share a thought on the subject. We live in an imperfect world. Much of what is wrong in our world is a product of mankind's sinful state. That does not mean that any individual person has sinned more than another. It means that the evil in our world is a product of man's original sin.
God created a perfect paradise for man to live in. Adam and Eve introduced sin to the world and our world drastically changed. We don't know all that the change entailed but we can deduce a few things. Before this time there was no sickness, no death, no pain, etc. The ground grew only good fruits. Thorns and thistles are part of because of the curse that sin brought (Genesis 3:18). Basically everything bad happened because of sin. I am convinced their were no poisonous spiders and no deadly snakes. Everything was perfect!
What about sickness? Why do some people suffer sickness when others seem to be well their whole lives. Is it because of personal sin? In John 9:3, the story of a man born blind, Jesus made it clear that sickness is not necessarily caused by personal sin. Rather we humans are products of thousands of years of humans living under the curse of sin. People with high blood pressure have children and pass the trait on. Two people whose genes aren't compatible get married and they have a handicapped child and so forth. And yes we know that certain lifestyle choices do make things worse but this is not always the case either. We see seemingly healthy people get stricken with cancer while others are spared.
There is a temptation in our world to blame things on God. God, why did you let this happen? The bottom line is that God gave man a free will. Unfortunately, man chose to participate in sin and allow evil to enter our world. Much that we suffer is a result of that evil and not a result of God's judgment. The struggles we go through are usually neither our fault nor God's fault but the result of an imperfect world.
So does this mean God is absent from the whole process. No it doesn't. He is able to heal. Many of us can attest to witnessing great miracles. But God doesn't always heal everyone and many times we don't understand why He doesn't. One thing I can say is that God is fair and just. He never makes mistakes. We must be careful not to blame God by saying He isn't fair or just. Why does he allow bad things to happen to the righteous. It may be to show the unrighteous that He is fair.
There are people who have been faithful to God through very difficult circumstances while others turn their backs on God in the slightest trial. By allowing His children to go through difficulty, God is assuring the sinner that He will not be able to claim innocence on judgment day. He will not be able to say He couldn't live for God because life was too hard. God will be able to point to others who were faithful unto death and use them as an example of faithfulness. Just thing about it - you may be in a trial and wondering what you did to deserve this. It probably doesn't have very much to do with you. It maybe that God is using you as a testimony of His faithfulness to someone else.
We often pray for God to use us for His glory. We want to witness to others and win souls to Christ. Yet we don't often consider that the trials we go through might be God's way of using us. What greater testimony is there to the unbeliever than to see a Christian persevere under great difficulty. The next time you find yourself in a trial you might want to consider this: "God, am I being used to show your faithfulness to another?" If so, give me the strength to endure so that someone else will see your glory in the miracle.
Yours in Christ's Service,
Rev. Sullivan Jones
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