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'Christ in You...'
by Dale Krebbs
Bad Things - Good People
We all have wondered from time to time, why so many bad things seem to happen to good people.
But there is a reason.
Perhaps first we should define what the word “bad” is understood to mean - what it means to whom, and how do “people” perceive it as they do. The meaning of the word has about as many definitions and applications as there are people to define it.
God plainly affirms that there are many afflictions experienced by “the righteous”, as well as to the unrighteous, but God delivers the righteous out of them all. (Psalm 18:20).
Generally, the “bad” people are expected to “reap what they sow”… but often the righteous experience worse things in life than those who are obviously “bad“. God has ordained this. If He had not, humanity would complain that He is a dictator and a tyrant that only thought and did evil things.
This is an enigma to many, and goes down hard for many Christians. What all of us as Christians need to understand is that “bad things DO happen to the bad also. It isn’t that God has singled out us as Christians to suffer more than the unbeliever, although He sometimes allows that in order to discipline us, or to redirect our lives in a different direction.
It can seem that way perhaps - because when we repent and believe in Jesus Christ as our eternal savior, we unintentionally begin to expect that God will then keep us from the bad things. It is important to realize that God sometimes uses the evil in the world to illustrate how thankful we should be that He has called us out of the world.
But God has known from the beginning that bad things would occur to “good people”. This He has allowed for reasons far above what the human mind can comprehend. By not revealing all of His plan, God is free to bring about the salvation and eternal life to those who would believe Him, and trust Him. God is not a dictator. He has given humanity the ultimate freedom - the freedom to do that which is wrong, and that which is right. He has given humanity the ability to choose.
“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) where you are going.
"I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the strong, and neither is bread to the wise nor riches to those of intelligence and understanding nor favor to men of ability; but time and chance overtake them all. 12For man also does not know his time [of death]; like fish caught in a treacherous net, and birds caught in the snare, so the sons of men are ensnared in an evil time when a dark cloud suddenly falls on them.” - Ecclesiastes 9:10-12 (AMP)
Ultimately, there is only one thing we can do…either reject or ignore God, or…accept Him on His terms and surrender to Him. When we do, He will reveal that which leads us to eternal life. In the meantime, He is so great that we must trust Him. Perhaps we can have faith in Him to reveal that which we long for if we believe and trust who He is by simply believing one thing:
God IS LOVE…a Love so great that we cannot completely comprehend Him. If we will believe in Him now, He will eventually cause us to understand Him. We can sing down through the years as many have, and do. We will finally say as many others have down through the ages:
‘”LOVE LIFTED ME”… and has given me eternal life with Him!
"Beloved, let us [unselfishly] [a]love and seek the best for one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves [others] is born of God and knows God [through personal experience]. The one who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love. [He is the originator of love, and it is an enduring attribute of His nature.] By this the love of God was displayed in us, in that God has sent His [One and] only begotten Son [the One who is truly unique, the only One of His kind] into the world so that we might live through Him." - 1 John 4:7-9 (AMP)
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