It's a Good Thing!

I was emailing with a friend I had not talked to in a long time. We were catching up on our families and what we are doing with our lives. During our emails I told him about my health issues that have been going on for a while now and his response was interesting. He wrote, “Good thing you don't believe in a God who rewards us for our actions on earth while we're still here or you'd be wondering WTF did I do?” He is absolutely correct, if I did believe that, then I would certainly be wondering what in the world did I do. It doesn’t mean that we don’t wonder, though, what we did to deserve what is happening to us.

I must admit, I have asked in prayer what have I done to deserve this pain. The self-pity comes through and you ask “Why me?” But as I thought about it more and more, I thought “why not me?” If I am to think of a God that rewards us on this earth, whether good or bad, then I probably do deserve it. As a Christian, I believe Christ died for my sins on the cross, which means I believe I have sinned. If I have sinned and I believe God is going to give us rewards (good or bad) for what we have done then I should not be surprised when bad things happen to me. Luckily, I believe my sins past, present and future were forgiven at the cross. I am not negating discipline or effects of sin on this earth, but God working on a merit program for what we do good or bad. If that was the case, we all deserve to be in pain, because not one of us has lived a perfect life without sinning.

During these times my mind wanders to Job. Talk about a time to wonder what someone did to deserve pain, it was him. God allowed Satan to take away everything; his family, money, and way of earning a living. He then allowed Satan to make him physically in pain and ill. It was so bad that his wife told him to curse God and die. His friends were telling him to confess his sin, because he must have done something to deserve what he was going through. Job actually did do something, and it was live a holy life before God. His friends were not privy to the conversations in Heaven that took place, that we as readers are privy to read. Job was picked for the exact opposite reason his friends thought. He was picked for how good he was.

It changes the perspective of pain at times. I am not saying that I am going through the pain I have because I am holy or good or anything, but it does give a different perspective. Maybe God allows His chosen people to go through certain physical or mental pains because He knows they will honor Him through it. We will never know this side of Heaven if we are being used by God to show Satan that there are those down here who will follow Him know matter what. Maybe it is just consequence of a fallen world, or the result of poor living and choices made, but what if it isn’t. Would that change the way you walk within the pain or suffering you now feel?

Though I know I fail miserably at times, I strive to honor Christ in my pain, because my goal is to store treasure in Heaven, and not on a temporal earth. I long to hear Him say, “well done good and faithful servant.” Maybe, just maybe I will find out that I was chosen like Job to go through what I am because He thought me special and worthy enough to suffer for His cause. If not, I still desire to walk in my pain to honor Christ in all things.

“. . . Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phillipians 1:20-21).