The Personal Touch

Today I'm not going to be handling a question but rather I want to speak about something I feel God is speaking to my heart. I hope to get back to questions again soon and if anyone has any, feel free to drop me a line.

A personal relationship with Jesus. It's something that gets said a lot in church, but is often overlooked by us each day. After all, we go to church, where we worship, we pray, we speak in tongues, and we learn from the Word; all as a body. Don't get me wrong, it's important to commune with other believers, it's just more important to develop that personal relationship. One way in particular is on my heart today.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. -John 3:16 KJV

Thanks to sporting events it's probably the most famous verse in the bible. With good cause though, since it sums up all it takes to be saved. But I think too often we get stuck in the mentality of Jesus saving the world, and forget that he saved not just the world but also 'me'.

Have you ever really thought about that? For the moment, forget the rest of the world. The world is impersonal, it's ambiguous. Christ didn't die for the world, he died for you; for each one of us individually. For God so loved You, he gave his Son.

How would you feel if someone pushed you out of the way of an oncoming bus and took the full force themselves; a stranger, who you'd never met, pulling you out of the clutches of death and dying in your place? You'd feel grateful to be alive, and you'd feel forever indebted to this man who had saved you. You'd want to get to know who he was, to know his family. Everywhere you'd go, everyone you met, you'd recount the story, telling them how this man had saved your life. It's something that you would carry around with you for the rest of your life.

It's the personal touch.

And it's what happened. Jesus stepped in the way of our death. But how many of us actually believe that? If we had seen him die in the flesh, how different would we be living our lives? For the most part, as far as we're concerned it's something that happened 2000+ years ago. But understand, to God, to his Son, time means nothing. He saw you when he gave his life. He didn't die 2000 years ago, he died today, for you.

And while we go through life fulfilling the day to day tasks, we can't be expected to think about it all the time, but it's something that deserves a moment every now and again. To hide away from the world, close our eyes, and think for minute, He died for 'Me.' That's something for each one of us, and just us. A love that's truly personal.

Why do bad things happen to good people?

Question: Why do bad things happen to good people?


After 9/11 I remember hearing Billy Graham saying on TV that in all his years he'd never been able to answer that question. Now, I have nothing but respect for that man, and I realize it was a delicate time. One where the entire country was scared and hurting. He had to choose his words carefully. The fact is though that there is a hard answer to the question.

Life is random.

Going back to Genesis, we see what was originally a perfect world. God created man, intending him not to be as servants, forced to obey, but as children with free will. The planet was given to us to take care and manage. The world was a giant garden and we were the caretakers. While we remained faithful, the world ran according to God's plan and will. But then Adam and Eve ruined that.

Instead of choosing to live by God's will man chose to live by his own. No longer was there a perfect order to things. One perfect will guiding the planet. Death and sin was introduced into the world and our various wills, reigned instead.

I'm sure most everyone knows chaos theory, even if it's just from watching Jurassic Park. Life really does operate in that way. Our actions, along with random chance produce outcomes we could never foresee. When you have 6 billion people each struggling to make the world conform to their version of happiness, it becomes chaotic. Like 6 billion people trying to drive one car. Course naturally when things go bad, God gets the blame.

How could a merciful God allow such horrible things to happen?

Because he loves us. God loved us enough to give us free will to impact this earth as we see fit. He's not going to control everything we do, so as a result, we have the ability to create and destroy ourselves anyway we see fit. And we're far better at the latter. If we believe in him though, have faith, it is possible to change things. Sometimes God intercedes for one reason or another. Again it may seem random to us, but every choice he makes has a reason behind it. God won't interfere with our destroying ourselves, but he does love us and will do what he can to save as many as he can.

So, to sum up, bad things happen because life is random. Maybe, instead of asking why there's so much darkness in this world, we should be asking, 'what can I do to shine a light in it?'