The Broken Cross

When I was in high school a friend of mine who was a fellow Christian gave me a cross. It was green and made of glass. I loved it, the color was my favorite, the cross felt so nice in my hand.

I wore it every day and everywhere.

One day at the favorite local hang out spot (the arcade) I was playing a game called Dance Dance Revolution. After the game was over, I noticed my cross had fallen from my neck and shattered.

I was heartbroken, there was no fixing the cross. My friend later asked me where the cross was? I had to solemnly tell him the news. You could tell he was disappointed.

He got over it quick because quite frankly his life had one tragedy after the other. It was a hard and cruel life.

Years later he now openly mocks God and faith on Facebook.  

The broken cross he gave to me ended up being a metaphor for what was to come, his faith would be broken.

It grieves me to think about and sadly of all my friends from high school I can think of only two who are believers in Christ.

Even worse they’re not just unbelievers but many of them bash God and hate Jesus Christ.

It breaks my heart.

I often times feel hopeless for my high school friends. But then I remember there is hope.

Hope in Jesus Christ.

Because truly in high school, I was broken. That broken cross could serve as a metaphor for me. I was vile, deep in sin. Filled with hatred and pain. I was completely shattered and seemed to be unfixable.

But then Jesus truly saved me from myself.

I owe all to God.

All glory to God!

Praise His Name.

Have a Blessed and Hopeful Week,
Chris

Suffering Can Be Good

You read the title right, suffering can be good.

We all know suffering is a terrible thing and many atheists use the problem of suffering as an argument to disprove the existence of God.

I am currently reading On Guard by Dr. William Lane Craig which is an excellent apologetic book. A topic he covers is the problem of suffering. Now he gives many fantastic points on the topic but one of my biggest takeaways is how suffering can draw us closer to God. It makes us rely more on Him and we appreciate our blessings. You can see this in how many of the nations who suffer the most turn to Christ more than the nations who live in prosperity. The Gospel is exploding in countries that suffer.

Which means suffering can be good because it draws us closer to the One who is good, God Himself.

Remember this and also that our suffering is only temporary.

As it says in 1 Peter 5:10, “10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

Stay strong in the faith, and as always…

Have a Blessed Week,
Chris

Daily Bible Readings:

Monday – Isaiah 43:16-21

Tuesday – Psalm 126

Wednesday – Philippians 3:4b-14

Thursday – John 12:1-8

Links:
William Lane Craig on Suffering:

Bible Verses on Suffering:

https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/bible-verses-about-suffering/

On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision:

Response To A Person Upset About God Allowing the World To Suffer

For this week I am going to post a response I had to an atheist recently who told me that if there was a God then He didn’t care about us and allowed us to suffer.

Here it is…

“You’re missing the point. Read the beginning of the Bible. Humans sinned which caused the world to suffer. The Bible says the “wages of sin is death.”* It also says, “Satan is the god of this world”**. This is due to the curse humanity is under because of sin. Despite this God breaks the curse through Jesus, one of many times throughout the Bible and history God has bailed out the human race.

But it is never good enough. Again read the Bible for reference, despite every time He did  help or intervene the majority of the Israelite’s rebelled or complained again and again. In history and day to day life it is no different.

I will admit that I do this. I have prayed and seen answered prayers but did that stop me from complaining to God later? Of course not.

We as humans continue to sin, allow others to suffer, we literally have weapons that could destroy the Earth in a day. We do the opposite of what God wants consistently, over and over. Claim we are good but in reality we all live in some form of comfort while others die on the street, then we ask God, “why do you allow people to suffer?”

Some day He will ask us, “why did you?”

Look at who we truly are as a people, looked at how we handle things, what we do under our own free will. Look at the World.

I chose to praise God for intervening ever. The fact despite our deep flaws He gives us a path to Heaven at all is gracious.

And can we really argue with the creator of the universe that He isn’t doing a good enough job? That is filled with pride and it is silly to argue with Him when we as humans are in charge of the Earth and continue to make such flawed decisions.

As far as suffering goes, look at Jesus. He was born poor, doubted by friends, families and neighbors. He continued to live poor, constantly on the run from enemies, dedicated His life to helping others, so one of His best friend could betray Him for a very small sum of money. He then was brutally beaten and killed in public, so we can all be saved. He did this willingly, suffering while helping others.

Could you honestly stand before Him as a flawed human being and say, “Why didn’t you make everything perfect for me and others?”

Sad thing is He promises to but many can’t wait and endure a small amount of what He went through.”

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get through to this person but I pray that he allows God in his heart.

But maybe my response will help you who are reading this.

Either way…

Praise God in it all.

Have a Blessed Week,
Chris

*https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+6%3A23&version=KJV

**https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+4%3A4&version=NLT