Glad Tithings

Why do good things happen to "bad" people?

Have you ever asked yourself why good things happen to "bad" people? Do you ever want to give up trying to be a faithful Christian when you look at the success of those who could care less about God while you struggle with challenges on every front?

These seemingly godless folks have great marriages, above-average kids, plenty of cash to spend and time to enjoy themselves. You, on the other hand, must constantly work on your marriage, fight to get your kids to do well in school or stay away from drugs, pinch pennies to make ends meet and frantically juggle priorities on the job just to survive.

Is there something wrong with you? Is there something wrong with your faith? Why is it if you're believing and doing the right things that those who have chosen the ways of the world are receiving the blessings and you're getting the tough times? Where is God in this anyway?

There are several ways to look at this seeming paradox. First, those who seem to have it all together may not really be living the life you imagine. There's a saying heard sometimes at Alcoholics Anonymous, "Never judge your insides by someone else's outsides."

Some people do appear to coast through life with a minimum of challenges. But the chances are that the person you think has it made in the shade really doesn't. You would be absolutely amazed at what some people are either hiding or just unaware of. It's so easy to feel you are experiencing pain and the other guy isn't, when the reality is he is thinking the same thing about you!

Most of us have seasons when we are experiencing pain and growing, both in our relationship with God and our relationships with each other. Much of the pain we experience centers on our relationships. Just as you feel physical pain when you touch something hot, you may encounter mental and emotional pain when there is room for improvement in a primary or significant relationship. The pain is likely a signal from God that He wants us to do something different.

If you experience pain in your relationship with your spouse, your children, your friends or your coworkers, you may have some work to do. And if you aren't feeling pain in any of those relationships, then you may also be oblivious to the pain of those around you. Ask God to show you the relationships He wants you to work on and what you should do to mend those that need attention. Then follow through.

If you have problems with your finances, you may not be managing your money as God wants you to handle it. Most money-related pain comes from either debt or from a desire to have more than God intends.

The key to living the abundant life, financially speaking, is three-fold: Obey God by giving what He calls you to give. Commit yourself to living within your means and don't borrow money. If you have debt, eliminate it.

If you are obedient in your giving and owe no one anything, you will be able to make much better financial decisions. You can experience contentment even if you have so little that others would see your income as insufficient. In truth, the answer to money-related pain has little to do with how much you have. Nevertheless, until you become obedient in your giving, the actual amount of your income often appears to be the sole issue.

And those rich people you envy? It may well be that those who appear to have no financial problems are actually living on borrowed money, and the consequences just haven't hit them yet. Or perhaps they worry more about money than they ever reveal to anyone else.

If your pain is associated with too little time to get everything done, take a look at how you're really spending your time. Does it reflect God's priorities? Are you spending the amount of time with God on a regular basis that He wants you to? Are you spending the amount of time with your family that you should be? Are you spending more time at work than is healthy? Do you spend time volunteering for things to the detriment of your relationship with God, your family or your job?

Odds are the person you see with no time-related problems either really has things together or is good at hiding stress. You may not be doing as badly as you think.

Another View

Another perspective is that things are much better than you think they are. To get a reality check, just look around you. Whom do you know that is in a worse position?

If you need perspective on your own prosperity, involve yourself in the lives of those less fortunate. Your relationship, money and time challenges may pale in comparison with someone who has no relationships, no money but endless time to fill and nothing to fill it with. Take a closer look at people who are really suffering in one of those areas and it will be easier to count your blessings.

Instead of comparing yourself to those who seem to have a better deal, spend some time with those who obviously are on the short end of the stick--the poor, the homeless, the sick, the imprisoned. Ask your local sheriff to let you visit a prisoner if you think you've got it bad. Ask your doctor to identify someone with serious health problems that needs some help. Volunteer to help work in an inner city or poverty mission. Unless you're really at the bottom of the social ladder or dying of cancer, focusing on others should help cure you of excessive concern about your own status in life.

As a Christian, you need to remember to take the long view. Look at your current problems from an eternal perspective. And if you really do find someone who really has everything this world can offer despite a total disregard for God and spiritual matters, then remember that there will be a day of reckoning. That rich and faithless person of today is likely to spend eternity in a very painful place. He or she may enjoy all the benefits of "the good life" on this side of that great divide, but his or her ultimate loss will be total and irrevocable.

God permits pain in life at least partially to help us to recognize our need for Him. Pity the poor person who truly feels no pain, who really does coast through life without a serious care in the world, but who will have nothing but pain for all of eternity. Then thank God for His mercy in drawing you to Himself forever, even at the cost of pain in the present.

God has a plan for your life. Concentrate on identifying and following that plan. Then you'll have less inclination to focus on how good the other guy has it. And in the course of working on realizing your own potential, you may find that part of God's plan includes your helping that "bad" guy discover that God has a plan for his life too.

© 1999 by Christian Stewardship Ministries, 10523 Main Street, Fairfax, Virginia 22030. Telephone (703) 591-5000, fax (703) 273-1795, e-mail ken@csmin.org