“For this world in its present form is passing away.” 1 Corinthians 7:31
I read about an atheistic scientist who didn’t believe a compassionate God would create a world where there was so much suffering. It’s a common theme that even Christians sometimes struggle with.
This scientist’s concept of Christianity was far too small. We aren’t just asking him to believe in a compassionate God. We’re asking him to believe in a whole spiritual realm that’s far more real and enduring that the visible world in which we live. The scientist looked at the visible world and saw that human beings were the highest life form and incorrectly assumes that life is all about us, but it’s not. Life is about God and his Kingdom. Paul tells us to “fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).
God’s kingdom is unseen and eternal. We live our lives knowing that we’re apart of something that’s far greater and more important than our individual lives. We’re participating in making known the manifold wisdom of God (Ephesians 3:10). Mostly we do this without realizing it. We do it on a daily basis by the lives we live, the choices we make and the way we spend our time. All these have an impact on God’s Kingdom.
We can only make sense of suffering if we take the long term view, that is the eternal view. Mother Teresa made the shocking comment “In light of heaven, the worst suffering on earth, a life full of the most atrocious tortures on earth, will be seen to be no more serious than one night in an inconvenient hotel.”
Let’s fix our eyes on what is unseen.
Great post, Susan!
I do find myself thinking about this subject, and the conclusion I always come to is that
1) We can’t explain away suffering – as humans we can never do it justice. 2)We can try to be philosophical about it, but we will end up talking ourselves in circles.
In the end we have to accept that God is bigger than any of us as individuals, and He is bigger than any of us can get our little heads around. Suffering might not make sense to us, but it doesn’t really matter – that’s where faith comes in.
Great post, Susan!
I do find myself thinking about this subject, and the conclusion I always come to is that
1) We can’t explain away suffering – as humans we can never do it justice. 2)We can try to be philosophical about it, but we will end up talking ourselves in circles.
In the end we have to accept that God is bigger than any of us as individuals, and He is bigger than any of us can get our little heads around. Suffering might not make sense to us, but it doesn’t really matter – that’s where faith comes in.
Thanks Lily. I’m thinking of writing more about this next week.
Thanks Lily. I’m thinking of writing more about this next week.