Photo taken by Cherie

How many times have you heard someone state the question: Well, if God were a God of love how come there is so much hurt and pain in the world? When somebody makes this comment, what he or she is truly saying is that God is not a just God. However, it is not God who is not just—but Man himself. Listen to what God has to say through the prophet Ezekiel:

Yet your countrymen say, “The way of the Lord is not just. But it is their way that is not just.” —Ezekiel 33:17

I remember a vivid discussion I once had with a man in which we were discussing the fairness of life. I said to him, “Life is not fair.” And he immediately reply, “How could you say such a thing? You don’t really believe that—do you Cherie?” And I thought: Of course, life is not fair! How could you even think that life is fair, when you, yourself, never even treated your own kids fairly?

It is Man who is not just! It is Man who chose to step out of God’s perfect world—His just world—when Adam and Eve chose to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God warned Adam that he was not to eat from this tree. God said, “For when you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:17). It was not God who was not just in this. He gave Adam life. He gave Adam everything he needed, including his wife Eve. He gave them a place to live and abundant food. He provided everything for them because He is a just God.

But the moment that Adam and Eve chose to go against God’s command that’s when everything changed. That’s when life became no longer fair! And that’s when both physical and spiritual death became a part of our everyday human existence. Because God is a just God! He warned Adam “When you eat of it [the tree of knowledge of good and evil] you will surely die.” Because God is a just God He had to stay true to His Word. Before Adam and Eve chose to go against God there was no sin in this world, there was no sickness and disease, and there was no heartache and pain.

But it wasn’t God who was not just—it was Man! And it is still Man today who is not fair, who is not just. It is still Man today making choices and decisions to please his flesh. Listen to what James 4:1-4 has to say:

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

It is not God who is not just—it’s Man! I believe that life comes down to three major needs: food, health and human companionship. Let’s talk about these three things for a moment. Do you know that there is enough food in the world that not one person needs to go without? Yet it is Man who is keeping the food supply from people because of power and greed. And think about the diseases in the world. Yet out of our fleshly desires, our selfish desires, have we aborted the one who may have found the cure for cancer or Alzheimer’s? (I know that that is a hard statement and I myself was convicted of this sin. You can read my testimony concerning abortion in my book Go in Peace!) And when you look at the most down and out of the human race, maybe it is the homeless or the drug addicts, what brought them to that place? Was it a broken relationship, a deep heart hurt, that they didn’t know how to get over fueling their wrong choices? Leading them to lose their way in this sinful world? All of these causes to the depravity of the human race are sin brought about by our own fleshly and selfish desires.

It is not God who is not just—it’s you and it’s me. And it is time for us to change. It’s time for us to become more Christ-like so that this world can become a better place. God is the same yesterday, today and forever (see Hebrews 13:5). He was just then and He is just today. But it is time for you and for me to become more and more like Him so that the world can become a better place—a more just place. As Ephesians 5:1-2 implores us:

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

We are called to be imitators of God. This is who we are in Christ. In view of this, let’s live a life of love. I know for me I’m trying to die to self and live for Christ as I make choices to give up my life (my fleshly and selfish desires) and follow Him. Are you doing the same? Have you died to self lately? Are you trying to help make this world a better place? If so, share what God has taught you so that we too can be encouraged to be imitators of Christ. Looking forward to your comments.

 

If you would like to read my testimony about abortion and how God healed my broken heart, you can find it in Go in Peace. It is available for purchase on our webpage http://www.sunflowerpress.net/resources.html

 

 

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