“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.”
John 3:16-18 (The Message)
Today I want to continue our discussion by answering this tough question. “Is God to blame for the hurt and pain in my life caused by death, disease, accident, or tragedy beyond my control?”
The easy answer is no, but most people want to know why He isn’t to blame when He’s all powerful and can stop the pain from happening to begin with if He just would speak the word. The answer lies in the verses written above. I think The Message Bible tells the greatest love story of all time in such beautiful words. God is LOVE. Everything about God is loving. God loved His children so much that He allowed us free will to choose how we were going to live our lives.
Some of His children have chosen to live a life where choices have a negative effect on themselves or a ripple effect that hurts others around them. School or movie theatre shootings, abortion, chemicals in our environment that cause cancer in our bodies, birth defects, rage, alcoholism…all choices that are a result of sin in this world.
The world that God originally created was one in which sin didn’t exist. That was the world God wanted. One filled with love. God created human beings to have free will, the ability to make choices for themselves instead of only doing what they are told to do. He didn’t create robots, He created people with the ability to choose a life of obedience to Him or to choose to do things their own way.
It is a mother’s responsibility to lay a good foundation for her children to follow, teach them the difference between right and wrong, and give them opportunities to build character traits that will help them be successful in life, but ultimately the choices that her children make are theirs. They choose their own life style and they are responsible for the consequences of their choices.
God gives us the best foundation possible. Through the Bible He gives many examples of how to do life well. There are also examples of consequences as a result of negative choices. Because of free will, sin entered the world and bad things happen to all of His children. No one will be immune to bad things as long as we live on earth. However, the bad things that happen are a result of sin, a result of Satan, not God. Our Father is waiting with open arms and the Bible tells us in Psalm 56:8 (The Message) that God has “kept track of my every toss and turn through the sleepless nights, each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book.”
You might wonder, “How can you say that? How do you know He isn’t waiting to punish me, but instead that He wants to comfort me? You don’t know what I’ve been through.” You’re right – I don’t know what you’ve been through, but I can tell you through my experience what God has done for me. As I love to say, what He’s willing to do for one, He wants to do for everyone. Join me next time as we conclude these thoughts.
© Cheri Swalwell