C-noss: "I know I'm a bit overweight and I know I need to lose some pounds. I know I don't eat right and that this is a good wake up call for me. However, I know plenty of people that are quite a bit bigger than me, yet they aren't even diabetic. Why is that? WHY ME?"
Doc: "Josh" (my alias), "I have three words for you: 'Life's Not Fair'
C: But it just doesn't make sens...
D: (counting with his fingers) 'Life's Not Fair'
I've been told this my entire life...When I didn't get the push-pop that everyone else had. When I didn't make the freshmen baseball team, when the girl that I so desparately wanted to date rejected me and when I see people going through hard stuff and it doesn't seem to get better...I'm reminded once again that (say it with me now) Life's Not Fair!
In John 16:33 Jesus says,
"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Now looking at this verse at first glance my thought is that it's a 'crap sandwich'. Let me explain: Jesus starts with peace (that would be the top bread piece) then he talks about tribulation (the crap) and ends with overcoming the world (the bottom bread piece).
But if you look just above this verse (:32) Jesus speaks to his disciples regarding his departure and he tells the disciples that they will leave him.
"Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone."
At the hour when it appears Jesus seems he could really use a friend...what do his friends do? They disappear, they desert him.
Talk about Life Not being Fair
These disciples, picked out specifically by Jesus himself to follow him are about to desert him. These men that watched Jesus perform miracles and wash their feet, who ate with Him and learned from Him, who said they would die with him all of a sudden get cold feet in his darkest hour. Have you ever had friends like that? Have you ever felt alone in a situation? Are you going through something that it seems that nobody else would understand?
It woulda been really easy for Jesus to say those words "Life's Not Fair"...but he doesn't...he doesn't.
I purposely left out the rest of John 16:32. The end of the verse says this:
"Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me."
It woulda been really easy for Jesus to say those words "Life's Not Fair"...but he doesn't...he doesn't.
I purposely left out the rest of John 16:32. The end of the verse says this:
"Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me."
If you just quickly read through that read through it again, slowly. Jesus has a hope that we need to grab hold of. Jesus doesn't say, "Forget this whole dieing on a cross thing. The disciples don't understand, sufferings not fun, I'm outta here!" Instead he recognizes that God is with him and he's not alone.
We've all been given different cards in our life. Check out this video:
These cards look different to each and every individual, but the one thing that can be said is that no one escapes the good OR the bad cards. We all have gone through tough things, some more than others. God does not promise us an easy life. On the contrary, the book of James (1:2) tells us to "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds," but he's not gonna have us go through it alone.
Trials help us! They make us stronger if we go about them the right way.
Jesus came to this earth to right a wrong to replace something that needed replacing and to help us recognize that we are sinners desperately in need of a Savior.
Jesus died so that we may live, how much more love could the son of God give. (in the words of an old DC talk song).
Jesus knows we're going to have trials, He knows that we are going to mess up, He knows that life is not perfect and it NEVER will be (until He returns or calls us home). He knows that we will continue to struggle. But He assures us that He will "overcome the world."
My thought for you and my thought for me is exactly what Jesus said: "take heart; I have overcome the world." Jesus understands life isn't fair, but he wants all of that worry, all of that anxiousness to fall on him because he has overcome it!
Find peace in the knowledge that whatever your going through your Father knows about and Jesus Christ died for!
We've all been given different cards in our life. Check out this video:
These cards look different to each and every individual, but the one thing that can be said is that no one escapes the good OR the bad cards. We all have gone through tough things, some more than others. God does not promise us an easy life. On the contrary, the book of James (1:2) tells us to "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds," but he's not gonna have us go through it alone.
Trials help us! They make us stronger if we go about them the right way.
Jesus came to this earth to right a wrong to replace something that needed replacing and to help us recognize that we are sinners desperately in need of a Savior.
Jesus died so that we may live, how much more love could the son of God give. (in the words of an old DC talk song).
Jesus knows we're going to have trials, He knows that we are going to mess up, He knows that life is not perfect and it NEVER will be (until He returns or calls us home). He knows that we will continue to struggle. But He assures us that He will "overcome the world."
My thought for you and my thought for me is exactly what Jesus said: "take heart; I have overcome the world." Jesus understands life isn't fair, but he wants all of that worry, all of that anxiousness to fall on him because he has overcome it!
Find peace in the knowledge that whatever your going through your Father knows about and Jesus Christ died for!
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