How to “Make Sense” of things.

When I hear someone feels angry because their friend didn’t invite them to a party. It makes sense to feel angry.

When I am told someone at work is trying to get them fired and they are scared. It makes sense to be fearful.

When I am told that someone lost a child and is grieving-thinking about all the sad situations in the future that will never happen. It MAKES SENSE to grieve.

As a believer (so atheists and secularists and whatever “-ists” exist otherwise can turn back now), the unfortunate reality behind violence and corruption in this world is that it, unfortunately makes sense.

In the Lord’s prayer that all good Christians have memorized by the age of seven (for me it was more like 25), there is a critical line in there to remember.

“Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” – Mathew 6:10

Thy Will, the Father’s Will, the Creator and knower of all things, His Will. Yes, THAT WIll.

What is Jesus saying here? He’s reminding us that just like Adam and Eve sinned (without any social media or gun restrictions mind you) God’s allowance for freewill led us all to a choice.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist (or a historian) to see that one action from me today could have a significant impact on the future of someone else. For example, Adam and Eve sinned, then their kids sinned (with murder nonetheless), and so on and so forth. Many of us live in situations today where the decisions we make, the reason we make them due to the options available are bad or worse.

Yesterday on a Utah college campus a man, Charlie Kirk was shot from a good distance away while witnesses watched the blood pour from his neck. A horrendous scene, one of many lately, which leaves people with one question. Why would a good God let bad things happen?

How could God allow this? How could I just dismiss horrific events with a shrug of my shoulders and say “it’s not a surprise.” Public school shootings, racism, violence, child pornography, sex trafficking- all absolutely horrible. It’s answer to the great questions is simple really, it makes sense. But, it all only “makes sense” because we are a fallen creature, living less than (far far less than) we were intended.

This world is the way it is not because it’s “God’s Will” but because of ours. All of us smart and knowledgeable humans have wills imposing on each other.

I know that may sound negative during an already dark time, but it’s intended step out of the facade and into reality. If your best hope is yourself, or government change alone, then you are going to be continuously disappointed.

When you see a violent act on whatever media you consume, remember, the initial impact may be violent, may be unexpected, may be a surprise even, but it unfortunately all makes sense. Mothers abandoning their children. Neighbors stealing from one another. Someone who just wants to make money because they believe that is the only way to happiness. Someone who was pushed too far, was too emotional, was too in their own head, never asked how their day was because nobody actually cared. These people came to the conclusion that the best thing to do was pull out a gun and shoot someone.

Clearly, when you’ve gotten to a point where suicide, killing others, self-harm, etc “makes sense” you can tell you are not being influenced by the right things. This world has contributed to these ideas because, after all, it isn’t just God allowing bad things to happen, but he’s keeping his promise to let man choose.

We’ve chosen wrong and our only hope is to repent (revisit life with new information) and come back to what we were made for, to live in Union with God the Father through the hope we have In Christ. It is only with the wisdom found in what God can provide where we can truly make right decisions with truly good intentions.

If you’ve read this far, I assume yourself to be a believer in the God of the cosmos and His Son Jesus Christ. If you sit and meditate, grieve, and mourn loss and feel the pain of darkness around you, that makes sense, there is a need for that. I strongly recommend you staying in touch with those feelings. What I don’t think is appropriate is to start questioning “God’s plan” because of a need to blame someone.

We are living in a world that Christ refers to as being run by the “Prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2), it’s no wonder a new shooting isn’t happening every day when you think about it like that.

On a positive note, enjoy the trees today, the grass, your living children and people around you because they could be all gone tomorrow due to another imposition on God’s perfect design by man’s will.

It might not “make sense” to think gratitude in times of struggle, and that’s OK. But it makes sense that we can all come back to the foundation of what it means to be a man, to be in Union with God, through the Son who died on the cross. Now that is the only way to finally start and “makes sense” of things.