There's Always More To The Picture...

Wow, I've been a crab lately; I get in "moods" like this sometimes and it normally takes time but I snap out of it. I always end up realizing I am wasting my time and therefore wasting my life. Sometimes life sucks, period. And it's so easy to just sit and be mad, or sad, or feel sorry for myself, which is silly. So what if I had a hard day, someone else had one just as bad, probably worse. It seems like every time I think I have a plan or things figured out, a huge wrench gets thrown into all of it, but most of the time it ends up working out, maybe not the way I'd planned, but working out nonetheless. And sometimes it doesn't work out, it never gets resolved and there are all these lose ends and here comes the frustration and whining again. That's why I love this verse:

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

- Romans 8:28 (NLT)

It may sound like a copout to a lot of people, but that's not it at all. At first glance it's easy to say that God doesn't really give a crap about people, because He lets horrible things happen to them all the time, but there's a plan, a reason, a rhyme to all of it...every bit of it.

In so many instances in the Bible peoples' pain and suffering have actually brought them closer to God. I know that has happened in my own life; I get caught up in believing lies about what a "good" life or a "fun" life should be or should look like and I decide I will slide right onto that path and I end up crashing, badly. Maybe the ending is something as small as puking until I pass out and then waking up and not being able to get out of bed all day because I am so sick, or maybe it's bigger maybe I lose a best friend for reasons I can't bring myself to say.

But, either way, God is always there. When I've hit that dead end and don't want to go back to where I was He pulls me up out of it all. And all the times He's done this I eventually see why I had to go through what I did – right now I am going through some things I don't understand, but I will, one day.

One thing that is consistent throughout all these trials and sufferings is my sinfulness: jealousy, greed, lust, lying, or just not loving people. A lot of times I can't see it – but when I do it kills me. I know other people notice these things, it may or may not bother them, but it disturbs me. Here I go claiming to be a follower of Jesus Christ and I am not acting any different than the rest of the world. I want to apologize, but don't know where to start, so, I'm sorry.

Since I am human, I will never be perfect, but as a Christian I am called to live a life like Jesus, who WAS perfect, without a single sin. This is kind of hard to wrap my head around, but I understand enough to know that I've got a lot of work to do – and even if I give it 110% the rest of my life I will still be nowhere close. The beautiful thing is that God gave His Son to fill in that "gap" that I will never be able to fill.

This is not at all turning out to be what I wanted to say, but that is okay. What I was trying to get at is most everyone looks down on Christians and says, "Hypocrites!" and it really bugs me. It bugs me the most because in most instances it is true, very, very true. I know I used to run around calling myself a Christian in one sentence, cussing out and threatening to beat up a girl in my next breath, then calling up the boys who would be buying the alcohol for our party that night. But it also bugs me because not every Christian is like that. Luckily God gives second, and third, and fourth chances.

But, unfortunately, more times than not, people just continue to live their lives focused on themselves and all the things in this world that surrounds them, all the while calling themselves Christians. Maybe they are getting drunk every weekend, or having sex with every person they have the chance to, or stealing from their parents, or selling drugs, or abusing their children, and then showing up to church on Sunday in new clothes and a nice car, getting hugs and handshakes from everyone and then playing with all the kids on the playground. Maybe they look like they have their live together. It would almost seem like they can do whatever they want during the week, as long as they show up to church on Sunday and maybe bible study on Wednesday once in a while.

This is not how God works. He can't be "tricked" into thinking you are a Christian. He doesn't care how many times you show up to church or youth group or volunteering or bible study. He wants your heart, mind, your soul; and if you've given that to Him, the "time commitments" and "good deeds" will follow – it has to work in that order. It can't be a checklist of activities and resume-builders.

Okay, I still haven't said what I wanted to so I will just quote random bits and pieces from someone else who has completely nailed it:

"It is hard to deny that tragedy can bring out the best in people. But when Peter Kreeft suggested that God might allow some horrible things because more people will be better for it in the long run, I shook my head.

'That's still hard to accept,' I told him...

'Okay then let's put it to the test,' [he] replied. 'You see, God has shown us very clearly how this can work. He has demonstrated how the very worst thing that has ever happened in the history or the world ended up resulting in the very best thing that ever happened in the history of the world. The death of God himself on the cross,' he replied. 'There Christ hung on the cross – forsaken by his friends and seemingly by God, bleeding to death and crying 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' And the result was that heaven was opened to human beings.'...

'And that brings me to what may be the most important good thing that God could bring out of your pain and suffering,' [he] said. 'God might just use it to get your attention and draw you close to him.'...

Even if God can use suffering to accomplish good things, I still had a complaint for Peter. 'Evil people hurt others all the time. Surely God can't think that's fair! Terrorists and rapists and bullies on grade school playgrounds and the powerful people who make life miserable or their peers on high school campuses – why does God let them get away with it?'

'People aren't getting away with it; the fact that God hasn't evened the score in every case doesn't mean that he won't. Criticizing him for not doing it yet is like reading half a novel and then criticizing the author for not tying up the loose ends of the plot. In fact, the Bible says that the day will come when sickness and pain will be wiped out and people will be held accountable for the suffering they've caused.'

'But he's delaying that day so that more people can put their trust in him and spend eternity with him. The Bible says 'The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance' [2 Peter 3:9]."

- Lee Strobel with Jane Vogel