Thought for Today
Psalm 24:4 Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully. 5 They will receive blessing from the LORD, and vindication from the God of their salvation.
Micah 6:8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Luke 22:42 "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done."
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God--
If real life came with background music and/or theme songs, today I would be hearing the theme song from Alfie. “Alfie is a 1966 British comedy-drama film directed by Lewis Gilbert, featuring Michael Caine . . . “ (Copilot Search). That theme song begins, “What’s it all about Alfie?/Is it just for the moment we live?/What’s it all about when you sort it out, Alfie?” I don’t remember anything about the movie beyond that song. But, I believe most of us have asked ourselves that same question, “What’s it all about?”
Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good things happen to bad people? Why do bad things happen to bad people? Why do good things happen to good people? Why? Why? Why? Because, we all know that all 4 scenarios do happen.
In seminary, I learned about several theories that have been posited over the centuries. One of the initially most attractive seemed to me to be Deism, “A view contrasting to atheism and polytheism. It emerged in 17th- and 18th-century England. It holds that knowledge of God comes through reason rather than revelation, and that after God created the world, God has had no further involvement in it.” (Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, pg. 73) I remember that theory by its nickname, ‘the Divine Watchmaker Theory.’ God designed and built the watch. God wound the watch and set it running. God then walked away.
Initially, that seemed a good explanation for the hot-mess of the world all around us. God created perfection; people created the mess. A few minutes reflection, however, especially during this liturgical season, reveals the obvious flaw. Deism obviates and denies the Incarnation. Deism denies the Holy Spirit active in our own lives. So, why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good things happen to bad people? Why do bad things happen to bad people? Why do good things happen to good people? Why? Why? Why? Because, we all know that all 4 scenarios do happen. “What’s it all about, Alfie?”
Another idea behind many theories is fatalism. “The philosophical view that events occur as the outworking of an impersonal force and that these events cannot be changed by human decisions or actions.” (ibid, pg. 102) Again, at first blush, this seems an attractive idea. A few minutes of Christian reflection, however, reveals the same flaws. Fatalism obviates and denies the Incarnation and the Holy Spirit’s actions in our lives. “What’s it all about, Alfie?”
As a Christian, I find my only answers in those verses above and in the rest of the Bible. I find great comfort in the 23rd Psalm, especially in “4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” (KJV)
Since I began with a movie music theme, “When the dog bites, when the bee stings . . . (“My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music) I recite to myself the 23rd Psalm. I pray Jesus’ prayer from the Garden of Gethsemane, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done."
At the end of the day, at the end of each day, I know that my value and worth as a child of God is not defined by the events I encounter. My situation and status with my Creator God is not represented by those events. All God requires from me as God’s faithful child is to “do justice, love kindness and to walk humbly with God.” I need to sometimes especially stress that word humbly. At the end of each day, it’s not about me or the things around me. It’s about God and God’s will. I am saved by my faith in God and in God’s Son. I am saved through God’s grace and by those truths which Deism and fatalism deny, by the Incarnation and the Resurrection, by the Holy Spirit active in my life.
Stay safe, know that it is all about God and God’s love, trust God,
Pastor Ray