All of us face trials. The Bible is filled with stories about people undergoing trials and teachings about how to respond when we face trials and troubles in this life.
This past week Boston was shaken by a crisis that we all have surely heard about. I selected four slides from photos that were taken and as we view these, I would ask us to all reflect on the impact of evil in our world today. But also, consider the hand of God and pray for those who are suffering still from this.
Slides: (pics of the explosion, the bloody scene afterward, a woman in prayer and children in candle light devotion afterward).
James opens his little letter of exhortation with instructions on facing trials, and the benefits that they bring us when we respond to them in faithfulness and obedience to God’s will.
Listen again to our reading in James 1:12-18. As I read this once more, pay special attention to the sources of good and evil in this text.
After this Boston bombing event I wrestled with this through a sleepless night.
Those runners in that Marathon came to this event thinking that the race itself was the most important thing of the day. Some had trained for months in advance. Many may have been first time runners and don’t you know the excitement filled their hearts and minds as they poured out their energies and pressed on through mile after mile moving toward that finish line.
Hundreds and thousands of supporting friends, family and just fans of the race all gathered to cheer on these runners. Steve Jett ran the Boston Marathon a few years ago and he told me that as he ran past groups on the sidelines he heard some of them shouting his name and encouraging him on. He found out that some of these sideline supporters get the list of runners and when they see your number they look it up and shout your name. Steve said it did make it a personal encouragement.
But good and evil clashed in an earth-shattering way this past week. Suddenly, the race was not the important matter of the day. Suddenly, all that concern about finishing time or finishing at all, took a back seat to more important matters. Matters of life and death.
Terrible things like this turn our attention to what really matters. They force us to let go of all lessor things and take hold of what counts most.
They also can make us evaluate some of the deepest matters of life.
Things like this raise difficult questions. Theological questions. Life and values questions.
Is God good? Yes or no? Is He?
Jesus said, “No one is good but God alone.” Mark 10:18.
I am absolutely sure that God is good. The very word good comes from the word God. So, yes, God is good. He is the very standard of the meaning of the word good. And that brings up other questions.
Is God the source of all things? Was everything created by God? Is there anything that exists that God did not create?
John’s gospel says, “All things were created by Him and apart from Him nothing was made that has been made.” John 1:3
So, yes, God is the source of all things. He is before all things and in Him all things have their being. Col. 1:17.
You know where I’m going with this, don’t you?
Since God created everything, did God create evil? The answer is, “No.” The next question is: Then were did evil come from?
The Bible shows us that God allows evil, while at the same time He did not create evil. My understanding is that evil does not substantially exist at all, but is, in fact, a sort of anti existence. Evil is like darkness, it is the absence of light, or like death, it is the absence of life, and has no real substance of its own. We use the word evil as a way of expressing the condition and state of being that stands against God. Evil is the absence of good and is allowed by God to have a limited presence.
I don’t know all of God’s purposes for this, but I see what happens when Christians remain faithful under the trials that come. I see how the scriptures teach us to lean on the Lord and find our strength and armor in Him. I trust God. I am convinced that God works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. Romans 8:28.
Other questions on the heels of that one are: Why does God allow evil to have a presence? Is God not strong enough to remove all evil? If he is, then how can He be good and still allow evil?
These are questions that have been used to challenge faith in God. The unbeliever scoffs and says that God must either be too weak to deal with evil or God must be evil Himself since He has the power to rid the world of evil, but does not do it. Those who say such things refuse to realize that God both has the power to destroy all evil and He has set a day to do just that.
Here’s the good news:
God made us in His image and likeness. Even though we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s honor and glory, and even though every sin MUST receive its just punishment, and even though the wages of sin is death, God, in His goodness, has supplied the one and only answer and way of escape from eternal death and punishment. God has given His Son to die in our place and make payment for our sins and give us forgiveness, justification, redemption and salvation. God, through Christ, defeated sin and death and turned the tables on evil.
Evil.... is.... temporary.
Good... is... eternal.
Good was here before evil came, and good will be here when evil is gone. In other words: Good wins!
But now a lesson application: God will not drag you away from evil if you love it more than you love Him. God will let you have your way. If you cling to the temporal pleasures of evil, you will taste the consequences of evil. If we choose the way of death and darkness we will spend eternity there. You will pay for your choice.
It boils down to what we love most.
John said: This is the verdict. Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light lest his deeds be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.
The reason you and I exist is to live in God’s will and ultimately be transformed into His image forever.
We are created by a good God for goodness forever. But God, who allows evil, allows you and me to choose to love Him... or not.
It is the most important matter of this life. It is the greatest commandment, that we love the Lord.
Even though evil seems to have turned the world upside down these days, listen to me, it is temporary.
It’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming.
Song: Unimportant Things
Feelings for the moment, they come and then their gone.
Lines show signs of frailty to the face that once was strong.
Diamonds don’t shine bright enough to satisfy your soul.
Foolish are the ones who seek treasures wrapped in gold.
Why do we waste one day in search of things that slip away
When all that really matters is you, Lord.
All that really matters is you!
It’s so easy to live for unimportant things
To lose sight of heaven as we chase our man made dreams
Lord free us to focus on what life really means and
Teach us to look past unimportant things.
So much love to find here when we take your point of view
So much hope to live for when we fix our eyes on you.
You give comfort beyond any reason, compassion for our pain
Mercy that is strong enough to cleanse our guilty stain.
Why do we waste one day in search of things that slip away
When all that really matters is you, Lord.
All that really matters is you!
It’s so easy to live for unimportant things
To lose sight of heaven as we chase our man made dreams
Lord free us to focus on what life really means and
Teach us to look past unimportant things.
