Keeping the faith

Pain is the price we pay for being alive. ~ Harold Kushner

Two stories have showed up in my life twice today. I'm familiar with both of these stories but it's odd how they both showed up today and twice.

This morning as I was leaving for work, I noticed my mother reading a book and I asked her what she was reading. She stated the Book of Job. The Book of Job is actually one of my favorite books in the Bible.

I was listening to my favorite morning show on 95.7 Jams and they had Pastor Green as a guest host this morning. He was preaching the Bible, and explaining certain stories to the listening audience. He chose the story of Adam and Eve.

Work has been rather slow for the past few days, so I brought the new book I purchased yesterday to pass time. As I was reading, the author dedicates almost an entire chapter to The Book of Job, and 2 chapters later he breaks down the story of Adam and Eve. This isn't a religious book. But how weird is it for them to both show up and in the same sequence?

It's always easy to believe, love, have faith, etc... if things are going right in your life. It's when things go wrong people look for someone to blame. If they can't find someone or something to blame, they blame God. It creates doubt in God and in your faith because you want to know how could God have let this happen to me and why? Did I do something wrong to deserve this? How can this pain be justified? People usually end up hating God for the pain they're experiencing.

In the beginning, God didn't plan for us to experience pain. He wanted humans to live in paradise forever. Eve was persuaded by the serpeant to eat from The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, then turned to Adam and he took a bite, as well. They had disobeyed God's desire. Therefore they were punished to live a life of good and bad, that makes life painful and complicated.

Pain is bestowed upon you to break you from your faith. To ruin your relationship with God. It's similar to our everyday friendships. You encounter people who want to ruin your happy friendship with someone else because they're miserable. They create trouble to make their lives not seem so bad. These people are the temptation, a mere test to determine the strength of your relationship. A weak one will fall apart, but a strong one can be repaired or withstand the turmoil.

The Book of Job is written to prove no matter what happens to you, always keep your faith. Your relationship with God is what will help you overcome the pain. You don't need the blessings in life to live or believe. No matter what happens to you, don't allow Evil to create doubt within you.

These stories tie together because God can't interupt the process of life. He can't give you free will but when you choose against him, stop you, and make you choose a different answer, solution, or idea. Humans are the only species who live by moral standards. It was our punishment for eating the fruit. This made humans self conscious with a life full of decisions. We are free to make choices instead of doing what our instincts tell us to do. It's our job to know the difference between good and bad.

"Behold, I have set before you the path of good and the path of evil, the way of life and the way of death. Choose life."
Deuteronomy 30:19

That statement couldn't be made to any other creature, excpet for humans. No other creature is free to choose.

If we aren't free to choose evil, then we aren't free to choose good, either.

God can't stop the evil because that would mean he's taking away our freedom that makes us human.

What you have in life doesn't determine who you are as a person. What's inside you creates who you are as a person. It shouldn't be the basis of what keeps your faith in God strong. All of it can be taken in an instant. Be grateful God gave us a second chance at life, and a place of paradise after we have suffered pain on Earth.