Redefining Good

Living Proof

Saturday, March 16th, 2013

 

I remember being asked my freshmen year “If God is a good God, then why is there bad in this world?” I didn’t reply, I had to question the thought myself. Every day we can turn on the news and be hit with the headlines of natural disasters, school shootings, and innocent lives taken away, where is there possibly good in those situations? Romans 8:28 explains, “For all things work together for the good of those who love Him.” It’s hard for our human minds to comprehend how good can come out of tragedy, but God promises good does come. Maybe what needs to change is how we define what “good” means, our perspective. I recently had it put this way, say you’re in a room; brick walls cover one wall while windows are on the other. You can look at the wall and explain how it is brown, rigid, repetitive, boring. Then, walk over to the windows and see fresh snow, smiling faces walking into the building, sun shining bright. You are in the same room, but seeing the room in different perspectives, one dark and one bright. Could “good” just be a perspective? I watched the movie To Save a Life recently and I watched how a student of the school takes his own life. Where is good in suicide? The main character of the movie used his childhoods friends suicide to change his life, to take no second for granted and for his mission to be a disciple of Christ. Now, what if the suicide would have never happened, would the main characters life be radically changed? There was a good in the death. I look at my life in hindsight and I know Christ worked everything for good. Every wrong road I traveled down brought me to where I exactly needed to be. I use how God has worked in my life and encourage others not to do the same. If it wasn’t for my personal struggles, I would not be to the place spiritually where I am today. God used it for good. As believers, we know this life will not be easy, but we can hold onto the promise that God will always intend it for good.