For those of you that remember, there was the movie Unstoppable by Kirk
Cameron. He attempted to address the question: “Why do bad things happen to
good people?”
There is a bit of vagueness to this question. The Bible teaches that
there are no good people because the heart of man is entirely wicked. (If you
do not believe the Bible to be the ultimate authority on Earth, then you will
not believe that sentence. If you would like to ask any questions, I am
completely open to them. Fire away.)
For argument’s sake, say that Kirk Cameron was trying to be politically
correct by saying “good people” instead of “Christians”. After all, if you saw
the movie, you could tell this was a movie aimed at Christians.
There is a verse with which you could answer this question:
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to
those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” –
Romans 8:28
Okay, cool. What does that mean? Let’s take a look at the first half of
this verse.
God causes all things – The
God of the Universe; the infinite, holy, ever present God is in control of
everything; every minute detail. Does this mean He does bad things to people?
Most certainly not, but he does allow it (I’ll address that later).
To work together for good –
So God is in control of everything. He allows bad things to happen. Why does He
do this? He does them ultimately for good. God is in the business of doing
things for a big picture (Stay with me. I know it can be confusing).
For good to those who love God
– Here we see a caveat. All things, good or bad, are for the good of those that
love God. Wait, so I have to love God? But that’s weird. How can you have
feelings for God? It isn't about feelings. Love is not an emotion. Affection,
adoration, attraction are emotions that culturally have been added to the
definition of Love. If I say I love my mom, dad, brother, sister, girlfriend,
grandparents, what does that mean if I don’t do anything to honor them? I could
honor them by doing something they ask like chores or picking up something from
the store for them. Sometimes, even surprising them with something they enjoy
like a movie or favorite desert or the music they really wanted. Love is an
action.
Christians are called to love
God. We love Him by obeying His word, the bible. If we love God, then He causes
everything to work for good to us. But the good the bible talks about, is not going to happen while you are alive on
Earth. Yes we receive blessings and good things from God but it is not God’s
goal to make us happy here.
His goal is our sanctification.
“After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all
grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm,
strengthen and establish you.”
1 Peter 5:10
God causes good things and allows bad things to happen in our life to cause
our sanctification. Something we cannot do without God. God is working on our sanctification and our glorification.
Paul Tripp said this: “God will take you where you did want to go to
produce in you something you could not achieve on your own.”
This is the whole point of it all. This is the end game of God for us.
To be sanctified and become glorified but this cannot happen in a fallen world.
This will happen on the day of your death or the day of Christ’s return.
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