Everything Is A Result Of...

Romans 8:12-25

Ok. I'm convinced beyond all convincing that no matter how many times I read a particular passage in the bible, I will always see something different. This fact of my life is more apparent since I've made the conscience decision to open my self to other points-of-view.

Take today's passage as an example. I've read it, studied it, thought I learned everything I could from it; but things are new to me today. The "old" thought was that sometimes we, Christians, have to suffer just as Christ did in order for us to be folded into his glory. The thought and belief was that when things go bad, they go bad for a reason and it's only through building a better relationship with Jesus that things could get better.

Over the past few (okay, maybe more than a few) years it's been more difficult for me to believe in a God that purposefully allows things to happen to people in order for them to be more loving towards Jesus. I mean, think about it...only through pain and suffering can love be accomplished. Does that make sense to you?

As I read and re-read this passage, I tried to open my mind to what else might be there, what else might be a message Paul is trying to get through to the churches in Rome. Then, right there, smack dab in almost the middle (verse 20 if you need a reference) are the words "Creation was subjected to frustration."

Wait a minute, Paul, are you telling me that pain and suffering is a part of creation?

When I was a young boy, around the age of 10, I had a question for my Sunday School teacher: "If Adam and Eve were asked not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, does that mean good and evil already existed in the world from creation?" Apparently, and according to Paul, it was.

What a great relief this is to me as well as to many other people I know who live each and everyday with pain and suffering and the frustrations which come with that kind of daily living. Now we can all know, know, that God is not punishing us, but that we share in the same kind of frustrations as all of humankind - as well as all of creation - which existed since the beginning of time.

This knowledge doesn't heal the pain, not the physical ones anyway. But it does heal the emotional and spiritual pain many people suffer thinking they're not worthy enough to live pain-free. Pain, whether physical or emotional, is not, nor ever has been, the result of our relationship, or lack thereof, with Jesus Christ or with God. What is true is that everyone and everything, all of creation, suffers. And until we begin to understand that, until we begin living as one people under one love, as Paul strongly advocates for, the suffering will continue.

Imagine how far our world could have come by now in medical advancements if we collectively put as much money into finding cures for disease as we do into building war machines. Imagine how much the world would be absent of hunger, homelessness, mass kidnappings, senseless killings, and so much more if only we collectively put as much energy into providing for the needy as we put into providing for the stockholder.

Imagine where the world would be if unconditional love and taking care of "the least of them" was the rule we lived by instead of "not in our backyard" and "they should get a job" were the chants we lived by.

Imagine a life where we hope for the things we don't see in this world and do the things we can to make such hope become reality.

Imagine.