I don't know what it is about Christmas time, but apparently, it's the "feel good" e-mail forward season of the year. I don't think I've seen newly written material in ten Christmases, but I digress... Out of duty (and procrastination for the real tasks at hand), I glace through most well meaning e-mails and sometimes I even send back a polite, "Merry Christmas" greeting. I figure it's the kind, Christmas-spirited thing to do.
However, today's blog isn't necessarily about my endless e-mails. It's about a much bigger problem- a downright lie- that's circulating around the world wide web, painting a false picture of who my God is.
In one form or another, I receive these stupid forwarded stories, poems, and verses about how God has sent abusive or hurtful people into someone's life, struck another with cancer, took a child's life in a car crash, etc., all in the name of, "teaching me life's greatest lesson," or "helping me redirect my focus on Him," or even, "so that I would know his unconditional comfort and peace."
WHAT?!?! I'm calling crap on all the above mentioned. Do these writers even read the Bible?!
It sickens me when I hear people talk about all the bad things God does to (insert lesson here), and saddens me when other Christians turn around and forward this junk to others, as if it were gospel truth.
I have a big, giant, newsflash of truth: God isn't a condemning, hurtful, or otherwise spiteful God. He is faithful and just, but that doesn't make Him mean or cruel.
"Well then why do bad things happen to good people, Lindsay?" "If God is so good, why is there so much evil in the world?" "If your God is so caring, then why oh why do innocent children suffer at the hand of the big, bad world everyday?"
We live in a fallen world, full of people making very bad free-will choices. Then there's Satan who runs around planet earth everyday, "seeking whom he may devour," (1 Peter 5:8) and even "accuses them (believers) before God day and night" (Revelation 12:10). This guy is relentless!!
We could even go a step further and describe our own shortcomings, some of which end in less-than-desirable consequences, but those consequences aren't God's fault.
Let's bring some truth to the table:
Romans 8:1- Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. I could end my blog with this, and it would dispel all the above mentioned lies. God is not condemning. He doesn't send bad people, or bad diseases, or kill little kids to get back at anyone. Period.
James 1:13-17- Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, by beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. Think God is punishing you for sin? Or for ill-prioritizing? Or for not focusing on Him enough? Think again. God is a God of free-will. If you want to sin, sin. If you want to ignore Him, ignore Him. We're not robots and we can do as we wish, but we'll also pay for our own consequences. Again, not the equivalent of God-sent punishment.
Galatians 6:7- Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.
John 10:10-11- The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep." Does this sound like a God who sends death? Yeah, I didn't think so either. Consider the source, my friends.
Psalms 34:17-19- The righteous cry, and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. I don't know everything there is to know about God, but I know He's not bipolar. He would not send tragedy in one moment so he could turn around comfort you in the next.
Psalm 23:1-6- The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and loving-kindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. This sounds like the qualities of a good Father to me.
Romans 8:37-39- But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is my grand finale. It also happens to be my favorite verse in the entire Bible, so I may be partial. Nothing can separate us. Nothing. No sickness, no disease, no death, no bankruptcy, no divorce, no hard times, no foreclosures, no wayward children. NOTHING.
God is a God of unconditional, unfailing, undeserved, unending love, and grace, and peace, and righteousness, and truth. I leave you with this reality so I can leave you with this challenge: Don't believe the lies of the world, and don't spread the lies of the world. Be a truth seeker and let love win!
