Paul Harvey once told a graduating class, “You might think life is unfair, get used to it”.
Hmmm . . .
According to societal benchmarks, life does seem unfair at times and bad things undoubtedly do happen to seemingly good people. Paul Harvey’s sage advice to those graduating seniors as to what to do about it seems sound to me. Since we cannot change life, we might as well get used to it.
The Bible takes it a step further for Christians and indicates that not only should we get used to it, we should “shine” in times of trouble. In Phil. 2:15 the Bible states: “So that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe”.
God refers to Christians in the Bible as “children, (or sons), of God” and in the foregoing verse He instructs that His children be different from a “crooked and depraved generation” and become “blameless and pure” – “without fault” – and that we should “shine like stars in the universe”.
In Matt. 5:45 it states, “In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike”.
I think God wants us to act differently than non-Christians when we face the bad stuff and the good stuff that the world serves up. Christians and non-Christians alike all face trials, tribulations, good times, bad times, happy times, sad times, et al. The Bible is telling us as Christians that we shouldn’t murmur or shake our fists at God during tough times, rather accept what life gives us and keep our eyes and hearts focused on the goodness of God’s plan for our lives.
It is difficult to smile when you want to cry, but a little easier if we will memorize Romans 8:28 All things work together for the good of those that love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. If we as Christians maintain our faith and believe we can weather the storms of life, we can shine like the sun even when trapped in the darkest corner of the worst of them. This becomes a shining example and witness to those around us that they need Christ in their lives too.
As Christians we depend on the grace of God in order to pull this off. To me this is the greatest single factor that separates the children of God from the children of men. We have God to call on and therein hope.
The worst thing that ever happened to me, (and there have been plenty of tragic events in my life), was the suicide of my brother. At the time of Jim’s death, I was as close to God as I’ve ever been. I could have cursed God for allowing this devastating tragedy to occur; I could have railed about being His faithful servant and why he allowed this to happen to me; I could have questioned why a loving God would allow something like this to occur in the first place.
I chose to draw close to Him and take advantage of His Comforter’s grace which enabled me to weather that storm.
Paul Harvey was wrong about one thing. Life is not unfair when the benchmark of God is used. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God and life on this earth is a matter of reaping what has been sown. God warned Adam what would happen if he sinned. He disobeyed God and we have all followed suite and now live under a curse. God in His infinite mercy and grace found a way through Jesus Christ to keep us from being utterly cast down and He upholds us today solely because of what Christ did on the cross, “Lest any man should boast”.
No, we should not murmur during the bad times. We should shine on and keep our unshakable faith in Him who loves us more than we can ever dare to comprehend . . .
Psalm 37:23
The LORD makes firm the steps
of the one who delights in him;
though he may stumble, he will not fall,
for the LORD upholds him with his hand.