Why do we suffer? How can a loving God allow those He loves to suffer through pain and death? Who is God to judge who goes to hell? What should I think about a God who allows people like Hitler and Dalmer to slaughter so many innocent people? When God created the world, why did He create evil? Where was this God of yours when my loved one lay dying in a hospital bed?
There are times when each and every one of us has asked at least one of these questions; if not in as many words. These are painful and heart rending questions to answer because we know that the person asking is in pain themselves. I could spend hours on each question here and quote Scripture and verse what God says about each one but I feel that we need to look at these as a whole because they all revolve around the same subject.
I believe I have a thin grasp of the meaning of life. Life is like school, and God has sent us here with two things to learn. The first is to love God with all of our being. The second is to love others as we are loved by God. We spend our lives being taught by God how much He loves us. He teaches us through His compassion and grace. Some of us learn the lesson and devote our lives to Him; while others become absorbed in other things and miss the point. This is why Jesus commanded those who follow Him to love God: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37).
When we grasp this first lesson we begin to learn the second which is to love others as God loves us. As we begin to understand how God used our situations as opportunities to demonstrate His love for us; we begin to emulate this behaviour with those around us.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation. (2 Corinthians 1:3-7)
I look back on the first 30 years of my life, and I do not see pain. I do not see pain, or torment, or suffering, or tribulation. I see God lifting me out of the mud and helping me move forward. I see God using my mistakes to teach me how to reach out and love those who are going through what I did. I see God moulding me into a man who can weep at the suffering of a child, not because I too suffered, but because I love them and want to comfort them as God comforted me.
This world is full of hard lessons that sometimes hurt. This life has pit falls and suffering that try to draw us away from God. And like any school, there are some of us that will fall short of the goal. Sometimes our circumstances would even have us question if God really exists; but these lessons have a purpose, a divine purpose. When we die our lessons are over and our new life has begun. No more pain, no more suffering, no more tribulations; just an eternity with our loving Father in heaven. As long as we paid attention and learned the two lessons God has for us.
We suffer so that we can sooth the pains of others. All of our lessons are to recognize that God loves us and to teach us to administer to other as God administered to us.
There are times when each and every one of us has asked at least one of these questions; if not in as many words. These are painful and heart rending questions to answer because we know that the person asking is in pain themselves. I could spend hours on each question here and quote Scripture and verse what God says about each one but I feel that we need to look at these as a whole because they all revolve around the same subject.
I believe I have a thin grasp of the meaning of life. Life is like school, and God has sent us here with two things to learn. The first is to love God with all of our being. The second is to love others as we are loved by God. We spend our lives being taught by God how much He loves us. He teaches us through His compassion and grace. Some of us learn the lesson and devote our lives to Him; while others become absorbed in other things and miss the point. This is why Jesus commanded those who follow Him to love God: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37).
When we grasp this first lesson we begin to learn the second which is to love others as God loves us. As we begin to understand how God used our situations as opportunities to demonstrate His love for us; we begin to emulate this behaviour with those around us.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation. (2 Corinthians 1:3-7)
I look back on the first 30 years of my life, and I do not see pain. I do not see pain, or torment, or suffering, or tribulation. I see God lifting me out of the mud and helping me move forward. I see God using my mistakes to teach me how to reach out and love those who are going through what I did. I see God moulding me into a man who can weep at the suffering of a child, not because I too suffered, but because I love them and want to comfort them as God comforted me.
This world is full of hard lessons that sometimes hurt. This life has pit falls and suffering that try to draw us away from God. And like any school, there are some of us that will fall short of the goal. Sometimes our circumstances would even have us question if God really exists; but these lessons have a purpose, a divine purpose. When we die our lessons are over and our new life has begun. No more pain, no more suffering, no more tribulations; just an eternity with our loving Father in heaven. As long as we paid attention and learned the two lessons God has for us.
We suffer so that we can sooth the pains of others. All of our lessons are to recognize that God loves us and to teach us to administer to other as God administered to us.
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