No Exemptions

I got this from Greg Laurie and wanted to pass it along. Great thoughts on suffering in life. Check out the scripture. Why do we think that it's so strange...and why does the health, wealth, prosperity crowd think they are exempt?

Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you.
— 1 Peter 4:12

We can accept the idea of suffering in general, especially when it happens as a consequence of bad behavior. But when bad things happen to good people, we don't get it.

Being a Christian is not a guarantee that we will be exempt from suffering, however. Christians will suffer. Christians get cancer. Christians have heart attacks. Christians die in automobile accidents and plane crashes. Christians face the same tragedies as everyone else.

Yet we are surprised, even shocked by that. As 1 Peter 4:12 reminds us, "Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you." In other words, don't be shocked that it is happening to you.

Since my son Christopher went to heaven, I have had people come up to me and say, "Why did this happen to you of all people?" The implication being that I get a free pass because I am a pastor. But I suffer along with everyone else. Jesus said, "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

As Chuck Swindoll has wisely pointed out, "God never promised He would inform us ahead of time all about His plan. He's just promised He has one. Ultimately, it's for our good and His glory."

So that is not to say there are no answers as to why bad things happen to good people. It is just to say I don't know them at this point in life. But I know that God works all things together for good. I know that He is in control. And I know that He is good.