We began our look at the problem of evil last time by defining what we mean by “evil”. At the heart of the subject we are talking about “suffering” - Why do people have to suffer when God is capable of preventing it?

Today we will look at the first of several reasons why I believe God allows evil to exist and have it’s affect on those God loves.

We must remember that our view of suffering is very different from God’s. What is to us a lifetime, is truly only a blip on eternity. That is not to say that God thinks our suffering or pain isn’t so bad. He doesn’t look down on us from heaven during our painful moments and cry out “Suck it up! It’s not that tough, It’ll only last a little while.” I believe the Lord knows our suffering and feels for us as a mother or father would for their child. But at the same time, we are limited in our view of the “Big Picture”. Paul stated that the suffering he endured was nothing compared to the glory of what awaited him in heaven.

“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Romans 8:18

Octavius Winslow (1808 - 1878) stated this way:
Suffering and glory thus placed side by side, thus contrasted and weighed, to what conclusion does our Apostle arrive? “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” No, not worthy of a comparison! Do we measure their relative duration? Then, “our light affliction is but for a moment,” while our glory is a “far more exceeding and eternal weight.” Before long all suffering and sorrow will forever have passed away- a thing of history and of memory only- while glory will deepen and expand as eternity rolls on its endless ages. Do we compare them? What comparison has the weight of the cross, with the weight of the crown? Place in the scales the present “light affliction,” and the future “exceeding and eternal weight of glory,” which is the lightest? are they worthy to be compared? Oh, no! One second of glory will extinguish a lifetime of suffering. What were long years of toil, of sickness, of battle with poverty, and persecution, and sorrow in every form, and closing even with a martyr’s death, compared with one draught of the river of pleasure at Christ’s right hand- with one breath of Paradise- with one wave of heaven’s glory- with one embrace of Jesus, with one sight of God?

In our Next installment we’ll look at a second reason why God allows evil to exist in our lives - Because He uses it for Disciplining His children.

This week we will begin a discussion on the issue of why bad things happen to good people - better known as the Problem of Evil or as C.S. Lewis put it “The Problem of Pain”.

The question is developed with this line of thought: We know that there is evil (or sin) in the world. We also know that God is a loving, merciful, gracious God who is omnipotent. So if He is all these things, why doesn’t He step in and prevent bad things (evil) from happening to those He loves? Wouldn’t you or I do the same for those we love? So why doesn’t God?

But before we begin trying to explain why God allows things to happen in our lives we first need to define what these “things” are. When we say evil or bad things happen what do we mean by it?

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This Sunday we will be on part 2 of tracing our way thru the Bible to get a better understanding of how it all fits together.

Be sure to bring your Bible.

This week we began a discussion on the topic of how to go about choosing a career. We looked at how the option for choosing a career is a relatively new concept. In times past people had very little choice in the area they would spend a majority of their time. They would follow in the family business, or maybe the trade of a mentor but the number of choices has never been so vast as it is today in America. Even today, much of the world cannot offer the wide, almost limitless options a person can choose for their career.

What a blessing it is for us to have the freedom to choose. So how should we approach this task? Does a believer approach choosing a career differently than a non-believer? If so how, in what way? Are there principles that everyone should follow regardless of one’s faith?

Join us this Sunday as we look at 5 principles a Christian should consider when choosing a career.

Last Sunday we talked about what our responsibility is with the instruction we receive in the pulpit, Sunday School class and other venues?

This discussion was prompted by the recent publicity regarding inflammatory remarks made by the former pastor of Presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Acts 17:10-15 provides us with the example of the Bereans who received Paul’s message and then examined the Scriptures to verify his claims. We also see exhortation in 1 John 5:1 to not believe every spirit, but test them to see whether they are of God. And again in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 we are instructed to “test all things; hold fast to that which is good.”

It is vital that we take this to heart lest we find ourselves being led away from the truth - or as Paul said “become shipwrecked in our faith” (1 Timothy)

This Sunday the GAP class will be starting a new segment in our Choices: Decisions that Impact study. We will discuss Service that Impacts.

Also, we’ll ask the question “What does it mean to Take the Lord’s Name in Vain?”. (This was the subject of a recent entry on another blog site - and I thought it would be a good segment to talk about)

Just a reminder that the college class has an ongoing Bible Study on Sunday evenings at 6pm in the college room.

This week the infamous Barbie Bandits were sentenced for their bank robbery last year. You’ll recall that these two girls walked into a bank smiling, wearing sunglasses, laughing and handed a note to a teller - then walked out with over $10,000. As it turned out one of the tellers was in on the caper.

Ashley Miller, 19, will have to serve only two years of a 10-year sentence and must complete the rest on probation. She pleaded guilty to theft and drug charges. Heather Johnston, also 19, was sentenced to 10 years’ probation. To some the sentences seem pretty light while for others they feel it is fitting because they were young and understand what they did was wrong. The sentencing alone is probably enough for a good hearty debate, but that isn’t what struck me as I read the article.

For me the entire story makes me ponder the magnitude of offenses that I have “gotten away” with. During my recent study in the book of Romans I have been overwhelmed with the truth of just how awful I am in the sight of God. Romans 8 tells me that before I knew Him I was an enemy of God… that I could not do anything to please Him. Yet look how much He loves me. In spite of all my sin, the Lord loved and gave His Son for me. This past week we have celebrated the death of Christ and His triumph over it by the Resurrection. It was there on the cross that Christ took my sins, my offenses and paid the cost of them. Certainly I did not “get away” with my sins because Jesus bore the weight of each and every one of them for me. It was no light sentence for Jesus.

That’s my thought.

The GAP class will resume our series on Impacting our World and Ourselves this Sunday. As you may recall we began this study in August by listing the top 10 choices a person will make in their life. We then grouped them into categories and began discussing them.

For those who may have missed it or can’t remember (since it was so long ago) here they are some of the big decisions:

• Your decision for Christ
• Who will you marry, or will you marry?
• What career should I choose?
• Where should I live?
• How can I serve God (what kind of ministry should I be involved with)?
• How can I control my finances - and how does giving to the Lord fit in?

…well that’s some of them and we made categories like Relationships, Service, Stewardship, etc.

After we got into the relationships category and discussed our decision for Christ, how it should affect us and how it should affect how we impact those around us, we moved into the area of dating and building a relationship with another. It was then that I realized we needed to back up and discuss “Decision Making and the Will of God”. After all, if our choices are to be dependent on God’s desire for us, we need to know to determine that desire before we get into discussing other areas. So that is what we did. We took about 8 weeks to discuss decision making, and now we are returning to the topic of relationships.

This Sunday we will talk about how decision making affects who and why we date.

In a future article I will recap some of the highlights from our Decision Making series.

When deciding on a name for this extension of the college and career ministry at Shadowbrook, the name emerge came to mind. Today there is a movement within the church with a similar name but this isn’t a connection to that, in fact it has nothing to do with the church itself. Instead it is a reflection of the position that young adults find themselves in during this moment in their lives. As a young adult (18-mid 20s) life is changing in every aspect. From the more secure environment of high-school into the open challenges of college; the dependence of living at home still “protected” by mom and dad to living on their own; from having a job to pay for fun, entertainment and an occasion bill to working for their very survival. In every part of their life they find themselves emerging from what they have always known into a world that thinks and behaves so differently.

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