God gives us true life

491 god wants to give us real lifeIn the movie As Good as It Gets, Jack Nicholson plays a pretty outrageous person. He is both emotionally and socially disturbed. He has no friends and there is little hope for him until he meets a young woman who serves him at his local pub. Unlike others before her, she has gone through difficult times. So she shows him some attention, he reacts in the same way, and they get closer and closer as the film progresses. Just as the young waitress Jack Nicholson showed a certain amount of benevolence that he did not deserve, so we encounter the mercy of God on our Christian journey. Miguel de Cervantes, the great Spanish author of Don Quixote, wrote that "among the attributes of God, his mercy shines far brighter than his righteousness".

Grace is a gift we don't deserve. We tend to hug a friend who is going through a bad time in their life. We may even whisper in his ear, "Everything will be fine." Theologically, we are correct in such a statement. No matter how difficult the situation, only Christians can say that things will turn out well and that God's mercy will shine brightly becomes.

"He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, he extends his mercy to those who fear him. As far as morning is from evening, he leaves our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. For he knows what a thing we are; he remembers that we are dust" (Psalm 103,10-14).

During a severe drought in the land, God commanded the prophet Elijah to go to the Krit Brook to drink, and God sent the ravens to provide him with food (2. Kings 17,1-4). God took care of his servant.

God will take care of us out of the fullness of his riches. Paul wrote to the church at Philippi: “My God will supply all your need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4,19). That was true of the Philippians and it is true of us too. Jesus encouraged his listeners in the Sermon on the Mount:

Do not worry about your life, what you will eat and drink; not even about your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds under the sky: they don't sow, they don't reap, they don't gather in the barns; and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you much more precious than they are? (Matthew 6,25-26).

God also showed that He cared for Elisha when he was in dire need of help. King Ben-Hadad had repeatedly mobilized the armies of Syria against Israel. Yet every time he attacked, the armies of Israel were somehow prepared for his advance. He thought there was a spy in the camp, so he gathered his generals and inquired, "Who is the spy among us?" One replied, "My lord, it is the prophet Elisha. He has the knowledge before the king himself knows what he's up to." So King Ben-Hadad ordered his armies to advance on Dotan, Elisha's hometown. Can we imagine what that must have looked like? "Hail, King Ben-Hadad! Where are you going?" The king would reply, "We're going to capture that little prophet Elisha." When he came to Dotan, his great army surrounded the city of the Prophet. Elisha's young servant went out to fetch water and when he saw the large army he panicked and ran back to Elisha saying, “Lord, the armies of Syria are against us. What shall we do?" Elisha said, "Do not be afraid, for there are more who are with us than who are with them!" The young man must have thought, "Great, a huge army is surrounding us outside and There's a madman standing with me in here." But Elisha prayed, "Lord, open the young man's eyes that he may see!" God opened his eyes and he saw that the army of Syria was surrounded by the hosts of the Lord and a multitude of fiery horses and chariots (2. Sex 6,8-17).

The message of Holy Scripture is certainly this: we have the occasional feeling of lost the courage on our journey to life and circumstances have driven us to the abyss of despair. Let us confess that we are unable to help ourselves. Then we can rely on Jesus and His message to take care of us. He will give us joy and victory. He gives us true eternal life, as beloved brother, beloved sister. Let's never forget that. Let us trust him!

by Santiago Lange


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