Though I question and struggle from time to time, I still believe in a powerful, loving God despite all the messed up crap that goes on here. How? Faith, mostly. I have enough trust in me to believe that when all this is over, somehow it will all be made right, that it will all have been worth it. And I believe that, while he doesn’t cause evil things to happen, God can still use them for good. That everything has a purpose. Maybe it’s a wakeup call, or a test for someone’s faith. Maybe it’s to make us stronger; maybe we’ll need that strength in the future. Maybe it’s an experience we need to go through in order to know how to help someone else latter. Maybe it’s to prevent something worse. Maybe it’s beyond my understanding. Everything effects so many other things it’s impossible for anyone but God to see the outcome.
I figure all the bad stuff is a consequence of living in a fallen world. We choose sin, the bad guys choose evil and we’re left with a world full of heartache and tragedy, where sometimes bad things happen to good people. I don’t really understand why God doesn’t just snap his fingers and make it better, but I can trust there’s a reason. Maybe doing so would mess up the balance he’s set in place for this world. Maybe part of free will is having to deal with the consequences, even when it's consequences from other people's choices and not your own.
After all, it’s better to be miserable sometimes and able to make your own choices than to be a happy puppet never free from its strings, right?
I figure all the bad stuff is a consequence of living in a fallen world. We choose sin, the bad guys choose evil and we’re left with a world full of heartache and tragedy, where sometimes bad things happen to good people. I don’t really understand why God doesn’t just snap his fingers and make it better, but I can trust there’s a reason. Maybe doing so would mess up the balance he’s set in place for this world. Maybe part of free will is having to deal with the consequences, even when it's consequences from other people's choices and not your own.
After all, it’s better to be miserable sometimes and able to make your own choices than to be a happy puppet never free from its strings, right?
So sometimes life just sucks. The thing is, you have to take into consideration how incredibly brief this life is; barely an instant in the stretch of eternity. So life’s hard. It’s short and then it’s over. Then we have the chance to spend billions of lifetimes in paradise. No more grief, no more fear, no more pain, no more doubt, no more unanswered questions; just an eternity with loved ones, with the Savior who loves you enough to be willing to die for your mistakes, and the God who gave up his son so you could be there. Eternity.
It makes a single lifetime of struggle rather less daunting, though certainly not easy.
It makes a single lifetime of struggle rather less daunting, though certainly not easy.
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