Sermon Central
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Why Me, Lord?
Contributed by Mike Dubose on Nov 28, 2017 (message contributor)
Summary: Why does God allow so much hurt and pain in the world? What’s His reason? How can bad things work for the good? I have an answer...
So what is God’s purpose? It’s for you & me to be “conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus…” It’s for each of us to become Christ-like… to take on the image of Christ… To live a life that is Holy, to be loving & compassionate, to be forgiving, to become totally committed to the “will of God,” to be bound to the things of heaven, and separated from the things of this world…
To be Christ-like is to be focused on eternal things, things that are not of this world…
The pain & suffering, the evil, the disease, the shootings, the stabbings, the tragic accidents, the lost of life, the destruction of homes & communities… These are all things of this world… these are NOT eternal things…
That’s why, “all things work together for good for those who love the Lord AND who are called according to His purpose…”
And His purpose is for us to be conformed to the image of His Son… To become more Christ-like…
When we become Christ-like, we begin to focus on heavenly things… For in heaven, there is no evil… there is no pain, there is no suffering… there is no disease… No more tears… No more suffering… (Amen!)
The hard part is, even when we are conformed into the image of Christ, we will still have to go through the pain & suffering of this life… For, did Christ live a life without suffering? Being the Son of God didn’t exempt Him from all the pain & suffering, did it? No! In fact, Jesus Christ suffered more than any of us will ever have to suffer…
His suffering & death on the Cross, is the greatest example of our lesson this morning… I can assure you that His followers, His mother, His disciples could NOT see how in the world any good could come from His death on the Cross… How could this act of violence, this murderous act, work for the good… Well, 3-days later it was revealed to them…
And “Thanks Be to God,” 2,000-years later, each of us can see how God used such a tragic death for the good… Because Christ suffered & died on the Cross – You and I have been called to God’s purpose… We have been justified… We have been glorified… We have been saved through the blood of Christ… The “evil” death of Christ has become our “good” salvation…
Friends, we too will suffer… We live in a world of suffering, a world of pain, a world of broken hearts… For Christ did not come to do away with suffering; He did not come to explain it; He only came to fill it with His presence…
Theodore Steinway, president of Steinway & Sons pianos, once said, “In one of our concert grand pianos, 243 taut strings exert a pull of 40,000 pounds on an iron frame… It is proof that out of great tension may come great harmony…”
As long as we live on this earth, there will be tension, there will be pain & suffering, there will be broken hearts…
If your heart has been broken… take comfort in knowing that God uses broken things… It takes broken soil to produce a crop… broken clouds to give rain… broken grain to give bread… broken bread to give strength…
And if that’s not enough comfort for you, take comfort in knowing that God also mends broken hearts… He takes the bad & makes it good… He takes the sad & makes it joy… He takes the hurt & makes it peace… He takes “all things and works them together for good for those that love the Lord, and are called according to His purpose…”
