Sometimes it’s hard for people to believe there’s a God when they look around and see pain and misery. The fact of the matter is that God is there for Christians in all times: good and bad. Everyone has a choice in life. We can choose to do good, or choose to do bad. Think of a teenager who has crossed the barrier of childhood and has finally became an adult. They no longer want their parents to give them direction or make decisions for them. They’re on their own now. Right or wrong, they want to make their own choices. But when they find themselves in a tough spot because of a terrible choice, then they run back to their parents and want them to bail them out of the quicksand that they jumped into all on their own. The parents feel sorry for them and rescue them, hoping this was a one time incident, but in reality it’s now only the beginning. Why? Because their child now knows, or gets the impression, no matter what happens, my parents will fix whatever situation I, myself mess up. The bad choices grow and grow. The parents keep fixing them, all the time feeling they should because it’s their child, or because sometimes innocent people get hurt because of their child. There are no consequences, so why should they start making good choices. They do the crime, but they don’t pay the time.
We took this world from God with the first sin. We are in charge here. We make our own choices and decisions. God isn’t going to use his awesome power to interfere in the choices we make without his direction. People can’t go along in life making a mess of it, and then ask God to come and clean it up, especially when we ask Him to stay out of our lives, out of our schools, and out of our country. He isn’t a spare tire to be pulled out when ever we want His power to fix our disasters, then shove Him back in a trunk till we need Him again. Many people believe God should step in when the innocent are being hurt. It’s not their fault after all, and God has the power to prevent their hurt. But isn’t that using God as a spare tire. We put pornography in the market, then when someone rapes or molests a child, we want to blame God because He didn’t protect them. They go to court and get a slap on the wrist, they get out and commit the same crime, only worse. They go back to court, same senario. They’re out again, someone else gets hurt, we blame God. Once again we want to make our own decisons, but like the teenager above, we want God to fix them. Where was He? Doesn’t He care? Of course He cares. He loves everyone. But God is a jealous God. He doesn’t want to be a spare tire. How do you think the parents above felt when their child only called when they were in trouble? Like a spare tire, maybe? When we choose to shut God out of our lives, He respects that choice. But that’s not what He wants. He wants to be the center of your life. And when He is, you can count on His awesome power to intervene more times then you can count. Choosing not to believe in God doesn’t make Him any less real. You’re only saying to Him, “I don’t want you in my life”. He’ll respect your choice, but don’t come crying when everything falls apart. Believe in Him, trust in Him, and watch your life become more than you hoped for.
