Life Sucks (By Design)

Alright then, where were we?  Oh yeah, Lamentations…oof.  If you follow the news you might have noticed that there’s an awful lot of bad happening at any given time.  The Bible argues, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16).  But either there’s nobody who’s righteous (as David argued in Psalms 14:3) or even with all of our power we seem to be fighting a tsunami of bad with small buckets of prayers.  Scripture says,

Arise, cry out in the night,
As the watches of the night begin;
Pour out your heart like water
In the presence of the Lord.
Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children,
Who faint from hunger at the head of every street.
“Look, O Lord, and consider:
Whom have you ever treated like this?
Should women eat their offspring,
The children they have cared for?
Should priest and prophet be killed
In the sanctuary of the Lord?
Young and old lie together in the dust of the streets
My young men and maidens have fallen by the sword.
You have slain them in the day of your anger;
You have slaughtered them without pity.
As you summon to a feast day,
So you summoned against me terrors on every side.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
No one escaped or survived;
Those I cared for and reared,
My enemy has destroyed.”
I am the man who has seen affliction
By the rod of his wrath (Lamentations 2:19-3:1).

To put it bluntly, life on earth- as a generality- kind of sucks.  That’s not a bug in the system, it’s a feature.

I don’t know if you’re like me but I get frustrated watching some evangelists and preachers.  They come off as misleading as they tell you how to be blessed through praising God because it worked for them- then they collect offering.  They aren’t entirely off though, just a little mislead by their position and a desire to make Christianity look as good as possible.  In truth, sometimes things do get better.  Jesus taught,

But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.  He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous (Matthew 5:44-45).

Life comes in waves; sometimes it’ll be good, sometimes not.  Ultimately though, we are under a curse.  As we are reminded, “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one” (1 John 5:19).  That’s the truth.  The basic setting on earth is “bad” and we sometimes (though hopefully more than average) get tastes of good.

Why is it like this?  Our dark world is designed so that our only hope rests in Jesus.  Paul wrote, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men” (1 Corinthians 15:19).  Ain’t that the truth, brother!  He continued,

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.  For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:20-22).

And so as we wallow in the mud here on earth we wait for that time that, through Christ, we can enter into heaven; where, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

But that’s not all.  The Bible tells us, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:23-24).  We may be down here n the muck of life but we all have our little buckets of prayer and good deeds to work on making earth a little better for everyone else.  We are told,

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:10-12).

Another reason the world is bad is so that we can show the light of the Lord.  Jesus told us,

You are the light of the world.  A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:14-16).

Each Christian has the power to be one pinprick of light in the overwhelming darkness.  It doesn’t seem like much, but when we work- and work together to make things better for others, the light of the Holy Spirit shines through us.  And of the light of Christ it is written, “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it” (John 1:5).  That’s why we are told, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).  For we have been commanded by Christ, “A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).  This is the will of God in our lives.

So what more is there to say?  Don’t let yourself get stuck on or caught up in the bad of this world.  As it is written,

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:2).

Rather, become the good we’ve been called to be and that we all agree this world so desperately needs.  James wrote,

If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
      But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
      Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.  You believe that there is one God.  Good!  Even the demons believe that – and shudder (James 2:16-19).

So put away your “thoughts and prayers” and go help someone in need!  We may be getting pounded by tsunamis of suckiness- but if we work together, maybe- just maybe- we can make this world a little brighter as we wait for the Lord to call us to our heavenly dwelling.