Story by Scotty Gray
I watch a lot of Christian movies; the Kendrick brothers, cloud 10, Pure Flix; and it really frustrates me when I see people portrayed as solid Christians; when asked about a terrible thing happening to, for example, a child. “Why would this happen to this kid, who is so innocent.” “Why would a loving God do that?” And the response is so often some wimpy, well, we’ve just gotta trust in the Lord; we don’t really know why; but God must have a plan… But we do know.
God gave us the answer to these questions. (John 9, 1 thru 3) As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.
In Matthew 5, verse 45, it talks about the rain falling on the evil and the good. Yes, evil things and bad things happen to us all – we are not exempted from it in this life. God is reminding us all that this isn’t it, and this isn’t the end. When sin was released into the world, was when bad things began to happen to all people. So, the question isn’t so much “why do bad things happen to good people, but how are we relating to that, as Christians? We have to remember that this is a journey, not our destination, and there will be hard times on this bumpy road called life. If you had a beat-up car; you know, you didn’t get the fancy limousine; and you’re going down to a lifetime supply of Disney world (we can debate that at another time) and you’re going to have fast tracks to everything, you’re going to live in the choicest of lodgings, you’ll get all of the best food, everything is just “lavished” on you…free…forever. So, you’re driving your old beater and you get a flat tire. Do you throw your hands up saying; “that’s it, I’m done, I’m turning around…”? No – you fix the flat. Or you thumb a ride? Because, again, it’s just the journey – it’s not the final destination. You’re willing to go through struggles to reach that destination. So, keep that in mind when bad things happen to good people. God is a God of love and he’s saying, “I know you’re going through trials and tribulations.” That’s what happened when sin was released in the world, but how is your relationship with me? Are you focused on me? Are you willing to go through these hard times and lift others up and draw them to the perfection that I have for you in your future? So, it makes those hard times so much easier to face, when we realize, again, that this is the journey and not the destination…and if we’re one of God’s children through his son, the Christ, Jesus, we have the ultimate, most amazing destination, far beyond anything we can even comprehend…
My real-life brother, Scotty, is a DJ at the Q90 FM a Christian radio station in Green Bay Wisconsin.
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