There Has Got To Be Something Better - Romans 8:18-22

"18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God's curse. 21 All creation anticipates the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time."
Romans 8:18-22

What has happened over in Japan is a tragic event, one that just breaks your heart. I have seen so many different responses on the internet about this tragedy and it has moved me to blog about what our response should be as Christ-followers. I have seen responses from Christians who immediately project the wrath of God onto the situation, proclaiming that God is somehow punishing the Japanese people for something. I have seen people say with sincerity that they are praying for the people of Japan, while others, outside the faith, mock them... proclaiming that prayers won't help but money will! So what is the proper response of a Christ-follower?

To really get a grasp of this you have to have a solid grasp on the overall picture that the Scriptures paint concerning this world. Gen. 3 speaks of a curse that resulted from original sin, the earth is fallen... "Cursed is the ground"! Death is a direct result of living in a fallen world because of original sin. There is such a thing as death, destruction, decay, and disease because we live in an imperfect world. Did God curse the world? Yes, but as a result of sin. So the reality is that we live in a world that is riddled with cancer, natural disasters, car accidents, heart attacks, murderers, and many more horrible things because we live in a fallen world.

Where is God in all this? Is he causing it or is He allowing the consequences of living in a fallen world to play out? Though I believe God is sovereign, there are things that I believe God does not directly cause but does allow to happen even though He has the power to stop it. For instant, look at Job! God allowed Satan to destroy Job's life! Did God kill Job's family? Did God take Job's health? I don't think so, though I do believe God had the power to stop it. So why didn't he? He used the natural consequences of living in a fallen world to bring Job closer to Him.

So what does this have to do with Japan? It is far too presumptuous to project God's motives for allowing such a tragic event to happen. Why didn't God stop it? Why doesn't God stop your loved one from dying of cancer? Why doesn't God stop a young person from having a heart attack after a basketball game? I believe that God is allowing the natural consequences of living in a fallen world to lead people to grieve that reality. If God intervened all the time, He would make a messed up world not look so messy and we would fall in love with it. As it is, we should long for a world the operates as it was intended... we long for the New-Creation! Romans 8:21, "All creation anticipates the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay." All creation groans! It is not satisfied with this messed up world! It anticipates something better! That is the response that we should have when we are faced with the ugly realities of living in a fallen world. We grieve! We groan! We long so something better! And we love the people who are hurting! Let's stop projecting God's intention onto situations! Could God supernaturally use events to inflict His wrath? Yes, but do we know that He is doing that in any given case? No!

So here is a quick guide to how we should respond:
1. Grieve that we live in a fallen world and long for the New Creation.
2. Love the people who are hurting and show them the compassion of Jesus.
3. Pray for those who are directly affected by the tragedy.
4. Ask God how He would want you to help in the situation.

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