Becoming Disabled

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Symbol: Becoming Disabled in Long-Term Situation

Lesson: Having a calm and confident heart is much better than the alternative.

Illustration: If you became disabled on a job, which would you be comforted in and want to believe?

• You won't have a job to come back to, or
• You know that this setback is only temporary and your employer is holding your position for you?

Obviously the 2nd. Especially if your employer gave you his word that you have nothing to worry about, you would be comforted and have one less worry. The same goes for we who believe that the "setback" of death is only temporary. Our "employer" (God) has given his word of promise and the evidence of having performed resurrections in the past, to the extent that we can have full confidence without worry that death is just a temporary "sleep" from which we can be woke by God.

But what if a skeptic at work told you that you were naive to think that your boss would actually hold your job for you? Perhaps that person cited the workload that someone would have to take on during your absence as proof that someone else would absolutely need to take over the position? Even if the skeptic were correct, that does not mean that your boss couldn't hire a temporary worker to fill your shoes. The same goes with believing God's promise of the resurrection. Skeptics may offer a number of ideas that sound reasonable why there is no resurrection. The one thing those skeptics lack is faith in God, knowledge of consistent and dependable promises, evidence that he has already done this for others. Yes, skeptics may boastfully act as if they "know something," but there is no knowledge apart from what God says is true.

So it is not credulity to believe in God's promises. But let's say that we didn't have all the evidences we have. Think again about that disabled employee. What is going to help him cope and recover? Will the worry and stress that he may be unemployed help him to recover and have a sound mind? Or, regardless of what the boss does, will his conviction that his boss is truthful help him to rest peacefully and recover more quickly? Even if he does return to work only to find that he was replaced, at least he didn't worry himself to death over something he could not change anyway. The same goes for us. Living a life in confidence of our Creator's promises is a much better life than feeling that our lives were meaningless, that there is nothing to look forward to. But unlike a potentially lying boss, our God is not a liar.

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