On my journey through life, I’ve experienced bad stuff. Why does bad stuff happen? Why doesn’t God stop bad stuff from happening? How do I live with/in the midst of bad stuff? Join me as I explore with you the answers to these questions in a 3-part series. I need to let you know up front that my answers will reflect both my lived experiences and biblical perspectives.
This is Evil–Part 3, where I focus on the third question: How do I live with/in the midst of bad stuff? But before you read this blog, let me suggest that you first review Evil–Part 1: Why does bad stuff happen? and Evil–Part 2: Why doesn’t God stop bad stuff from happening? Then, return and continue reading here.
Early in 2015, I was living with headaches pretty much all day every day. But initially, I did nothing to attend to those signs/symptoms—I just kept working and living as usual.
At a routine eye appointment later that year, around springtime, I reported my headaches. My optometrist took a closer look and told me my left eye was extended further out than my right eye (protopsis).
She had me meet with a neurologist who specialized in ophthalmology who confirmed her findings. He then ordered a couple of rounds of brain imaging and told me there was a mass in my brain—it turned out to be a meningioma (primary brain tumor).
Then, to be on the safe side, he also ordered imaging of my chest, abdomen, and pelvis to see if there were any issues there. Turns out there was cancer in my left kidney that at that point had taken over almost half the organ.
Long story short, in the Summer of 2015 I had my left kidney removed, followed later in the Fall of that same year with my first brain surgery. Because of the position of my brain tumor, they couldn’t get it all out—too close to other critical stuff. So, every 6- to 9-months since then, I go for brain imaging to check the status of the tumor.
In the Spring of 2019, the report came back that there was an increase/expansion of the tumor. The following Winter 2020, I had my second brain surgery, followed that summer with radiation therapy. One unfortunate consequence of that radiotherapy was that I lost vision in my left eye.
So, among the bad stuff in my life is living today with a brain tumor, vision in only one eye, and only one kidney with stage 3 chronic kidney disease.
There’s more that I could share with you about the bad stuff in my life, but that’s not the point of this blog. The point is what do I do with my bad stuff and all the bad stuff around me.
For me, it begins with a mindset reset.
A person’s usual attitude or mental state is his or her mindset: a habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations.
A typical mindset regarding bad stuff is that only good stuff should happen to me and, if God was truly loving–omniscient–omnipotent–omnipresent, he would stop bad stuff from happening to me.
Living with that mindset is like trying to catch the wind in your hands—it’s not going to happened in this life. In fact, here’s what God tells me:
I believe God. And so, I’ve reset my mindset from expecting that only good will happen to me to accepting that bad stuff will also happen to me and will exist all around me UNTIL Jesus Christ, who has already overcome the world, returns at his second coming to usher in a new Earth and a new Heaven and a new Me.
But even with that mindset reset, there still remains for me two critical questions:
I have resolved to follow Jesus Christ—his life and his teachings are my guide for living.
Why?
Because over my life journey, I’ve found his way to be better than my own way or the ways of this world. For me, Jesus is more reliable and trustworthy than any other option (worldview, philosophy, theory, religion, person, gods, etc.) out there.
We all believe in something or someone. Based on my experiences, I choose to believe in Jesus Christ and journey with him through my life—in the midst of both the good and the bad.
While there is bad stuff in my life, there is also good stuff in my life. Instead of allowing myself to be consumed with the bad stuff, I choose instead to deliberately look for and give thanks for the good stuff.
Am I idealizing life?
Not at all. I just recognize that a positive frame of mind is a better way for me to handle the bad stuff of life, than is a negative frame of mind that doesn’t move me one iota closer to resolving anything.
Does that mean I ignore the bad stuff in my life, or go through life with smiles on my face all the time, or hop around every day like a blackbird in the sun?
No, certainly not!
Bad stuff is BAD, and often comes with consequences that are really hard to deal with. Sometimes I grow weary, feel down, or just want to give up. But that actually compels me all the more to talk with God about what’s going on in my life and ask him for help. Over the years, God has risen to the top of my list to reach out to for help.
Does he always give me what I ask for?
No.
But my cumulative life experiences have taught me that he hears me, listens to me, and always answers my requests for help according to what he knows is right and best for me. My personal life history to date leaves no doubt in my mind that God is looking out for me and has my best in mind. Therefore, I’ll keep trusting him with my life.
And I have a social network—family and friends—who know what’s going on in my life, pray for me, encourage me, and help me in tangible ways at just the right time. We support each other. It’s like we’re journeying through life together.
I also reach out to experts to help me with some of the specific challenges I’m facing. Over my lifetime, I’ve received valuable help from healthcare providers, clergy, counselors, coaches, and other professionals. I’m not afraid to reach out for help when I need it.
If I take the Word of God—the Holy Bible—to be true, and I do, then there’s a happening ahead in my future that I want to be ready for: Jesus Christ coming a second time to the Earth.
By being ready, I mean being among those Jesus takes back with him to a new Heaven and a new Earth that will be without bad stuff!!! When Jesus returns, I’ll be receiving an extraordinary inheritance from my adopted Father—God, the Creator and Sovereign Ruler over all.
We—human beings—are the purveyors of much of the evil on the Earth. If I want to do something about the bad stuff on the earth, let me begin by loving God and loving my neighbor.
There is no question but that the devil is here on the Earth with the expressed intent to destroy us and he has a host of angels joining with him to that end (1 Peter 5:8 & Revelation 12:9). So, is there anything I can do about Satan? Yes!!!
For Satan to rule in my life, I must give him control of my life. That I choose not to do. Rather, I give control of my life to the Holy Spirit whose power—working in, with, for and through me—overcomes the devil.
As God leads, equips, and empowers me, I will work for the good of others. Obviously, I can’t cover the whole world, but I can serve within the sphere of influence God has given me.
I will do what I can to share with others the love and truth God has shared with me. I will not be passive nor silent.
Evil will not last forever—absolutely not!!! There will be an end to Satan and an end to evil and those who follow after evil. Jesus is coming again with a new Heaven and a new Earth where there will be no Satan nor evil. But unfortunately, it will get worse before it gets better as history and world events confirm.
Until then, I must stand firm in my faith in Jesus and my hope in my future inheritance—a new residence free of evil—and live on purpose to glorify God and edify others.
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