<\/a>feels like the author says, “I’m getting ready to tell you something that sounds bad. So let me preface it by telling you, ‘Jesus loved them.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n“It may not sound like it by the story I’m going to tell you. But keep in mind as I tell you this, He loved them.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I feel like this is specifically here to remind all of us today, whatever God allows in our lives, remember He does love us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s a typical picture of us today. We’re serving God, doing all we know to do to live right, ministering to others. Then, we get hit by something that seems–let’s just say it…unfair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, bad things happen to good people, both then and now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus loved Lazarus & his sisters. Yet, He purposely let them go through the struggle of death. Why? So they, and everyone around could see the miracle of being brought back to life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What an impact that must have made to everyone around!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Somehow along the way we’ve convinced ourselves that these are OUR lives; when, in fact, they are supposed to be lives laid down for Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We somehow think He’s supposed to shield us from all the bad stuff. We want to blame Him for letting bad things happen. We even accuse Him of abandonment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Friends of Lazarus’s family spoke similarly. “Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?” they questioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the truth is, when we accept Christ, we’re to take up our cross & follow Him. His commission is our commission: to show Christ to the world by whatever means we can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus endured mocking, being arrested & bound, beatings. He was even…killed. He understands the pain life in this world brings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Does God permit bad things to happen to good people? I’d say it’s not His perfect will; but, His permissive will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You see, disobedience of the first man & woman brought sin into this world, as a response to Satan’s temptations. Now we live in the consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It wasn’t God’s desire for there to be a fall from grace. Yet, even now, God offers to walk with us through every circumstance, to be our comfort & help. His mercy & sacrifice allows us to have a way back to Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus said to His disciples plainly, “Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you can believe….”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Are we willing to lay down our lives for Christ so that others can experience Him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let us say with Jesus, “If we love our life, we will surely lose it; but, if we hate this worldly life, we will keep it unto eternal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“If any of us serve Christ, let us follow Him; because, where He is, is where His servants should be. If any of us serve Christ, we will receive honor from God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Now, our souls may be troubled. What shall we say, “Father, save us from this hour?!’ But it is for this cause that we are here in this moment.” (reference to John 12:25\u202d-\u202c27)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, no matter what we’re going through, regardless of how devastating the season…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
…let us forever hold true to the understanding that whatever comes into our lives,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus loves us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u26f2 #BrendaDillon #ChristianBlog<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Now Jesus loved Martha, and Mary, and Lazarus; but, when He heard that Lazarus was sick, Jesus stayed where He was for two more days. Lazarus’s body had already been lying in a tomb for four days by the time Jesus arrived with His disciples to “wake him out of his sleep.” I’m intrigued by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"WB4WB4WP_MODE":"","WB4WP_PAGE_SCRIPTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_STYLES":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FONTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_HEADER":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FOOTER":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[106,107],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-1355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faithfulness","category-gods-love","tag-inspirational"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellspringwords.life\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tomb.jpg?fit=960%2C720&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellspringwords.life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellspringwords.life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellspringwords.life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellspringwords.life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellspringwords.life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1355"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wellspringwords.life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1357,"href":"https:\/\/wellspringwords.life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355\/revisions\/1357"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellspringwords.life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellspringwords.life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellspringwords.life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellspringwords.life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}