Wednesday Thought -- November 30, 2011

Good Morning Friends,

“God is just:  He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well.  This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.  He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.  They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed.  This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.” (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10)

Life is not fair.  Sometimes good people suffer and those who cause the suffering prosper.  But here is God’s promise:  there will come a day when justice will prevail.  It won’t happen because the world finally wakes up and everything becomes fair and just in this life.  It will happen when God intervenes in the world to bring His justice at the Second Coming.

I like the story of the couple returning by ship to New York after a lifetime of missionary service.  As the ship pulls in to the dock they see a crowd waiting to welcome them home and celebrate, but when they disembark they realize the crowd is for someone else, some celebrity and that no one is there to welcome them home.  The man turns to his wife and expresses his disappointment and frustration, it just isn’t fair.  The wife responds simply, “Remember, we’re not home yet.”

You work hard and don’t get the reward you deserve.  You stand up for what is right and holy and you get ridiculed and put down for it.  In some places and some times, you get imprisoned or even killed just for your allegiance to Jesus.  Children get sick and young people die.  Life just isn’t fair.  Remember, it’s not done yet.  It won’t be done until Jesus comes, and then justice will prevail.  Count on it!  If you cling to Jesus even when it hurts and is hard, in the end, it will be evident you were right.

His, by Grace,

Steve