Oh, The Humanity!

It's been a few days since i have posted and a few things have happened in the lives of people around me. There have been numerous stories of loved ones battling cancer, loved ones dying, people breaking up, people getting sick. A question that is usually asked when things like this happen is "why?" Why did this person have to go through this at such a young age? Why did this happen to me? Why do I have to go through this and the person who seems to be doing all the wrong things is sitting on his pedestal, seemingly loving life? Why do bad things happen to good people? For that matter, why do bad things happen to anybody? Why? Why? WHY????

Why is a tough question to answer, no matter who you are. However, we are just finite pieces of dust. We don't know all of the big picture. There is no way to possibly know why certain things happen. I mean, sure, science can try to explain why things like cancer and death and sickness and any kind of hurt happens, bu they are missing the point. There is something bigger going on, something that none of us can possibly understand. Here is some good news. The God of the universe knows why. The God that I serve knows why these things happen. He is not surprised by any of them. God knows what is going on everywhere. He does not just wake up one day and say, "Oh look, Jeremy just died. I wonder how that happened..." If He did that, He wouldn't really be God, would He?

Check this out - Jesus, the only begotten Son of God came to earth and lived among us. Jesus was fully God and fully man, a phenomenon known as the hypostatic union. This means that while He was one, He was also the other. It's like being in two places at once, but better. So Jesus, who is and was fully God, came to earth and lived as one of us, setting aside His status as God so that He could be with us. So he could feel like us, taste like us, laugh with us, cry with us, die FOR us. You might be asking yourself where I am going with this. Hang on, I am getting there - I do remember that the aim of this blog is to figure out how to glorify God in all things.

In the book of Colossians, the first chapter talks about the preeminence of Christ (1:15-20) and what this means. Without going into a TON of detail, let me just explain what this means. I am just going to paste the Scripture here so that you can follow along with my train of thought.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+1&version=ESV

First of all, it begins by saying that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. This means that if we want to know who God is, we look to Jesus. Like I explained before, Jesus was fully God and fully man. Next is the important part. Not that it isn't all important, but this is important to fully get what is being said here. Verses 16 &17 say that in Him all things are and were and always will be. All things are held together by Him. This means that all things, good and bad, whether we see them or not, are made for His glory. This means that nothing happens that He does not know about and that it is all for His glory. Sickness, death, cancer, heartache, He knows it all. He experienced it all when He was on earth. Finally, it says that He is the head of the church and that all of God was pleased to dwell within Him, and that Jesus sacrificed himself to make peace between God and those who believe, by the cross.

Let me tie this all together. The purpose of this blog is to figure out how to glorify God in everything. I am not going to sugar coat this. This includes all of these bad things that I have mentioned. This means we glorify Him in the good an the bad. So how do we glorify God through all the bad things? How do we glorify God through all of the "why's" in our lives? Well, and this is easier said than done, we lay it before God. We lay it at the feet of King Jesus. Jesus knows what is going on. Once again, Jesus lived through this stuff. If it is all for His glory, then we should be able to glorify God through everything. This does not mean that we should never be sad or angry or upset. Jesus cried, got angry, and was upset with His disciples more than once. This means that through these emotions, we glorify God. A friend and I were talking about this the other day, which is what sparked this blog entry. She said, "Instead of why, we should ask "how"." How can God be glorified in this situation? How can I glorify God with how I am feeling? How can God be attempting to show me his glory through this?

You see, it's not about why bad things happen. It's about how, even through these trials, we can glorify God. There will always be another trial to get through, to the day that eventually we die, and then that gives a trial to our loved ones. If we go through life asking God why, we will miss His greater picture of the glory that He is trying to show us. So, if you are going through a trial today, tomorrow or next year, remember that it is ultimately for God's glory. Remember that all things are held together by Him and that He has you in His very capable hands. To glorify God...