“The Worst Thing… The Best Thing"

    The worst thing that will ever happen to us has already happened to us.

     “Christ died” (Romans 5:6).

     No “worst case scenario” we can imagine will ever compare with that horrific day when the Prince of life suffered and died at the hands of the humanity He so loved.  We put to death the only perfectly innocent person who ever lived, after inflicting upon Him shame, rejection, forsakenness and a misery of soul and body none other will ever know.  It matters not that we weren’t even born when the crime took place.  Our sins made necessary the cross, and all are complicit in the worst and most unjust event of history.

     However, in the marvelous grace of God, the “worst thing” became for us the best thing.

     “But God raised Him from the dead… If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Acts 13:30; Romans 10:9-10).

     Having made atonement for our sins in His death, the Lord Jesus came forth from His tomb in a newness of life not only for Himself, but for all who trust in His redeeming work.  “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new” (II Corinthians 5:17).  The cross led to the empty tomb, which leads to our full hearts, as indwelt by the Holy Spirit when we believe.  Indeed, the worst thing made possible our becoming “the habitation of God through the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22).  While we don’t fully realize the enormity of such a gift at present, the day will come when a long eternity stretches forth in which we will forever be the very home of God.  In that day, we will understand that the worst thing provided to us the best thing.

     In this holy light, all other challenges and difficulties fade in comparison.  Indeed, if God can birth the best thing from the tomb of the worst thing, then surely He can cause every other darkness to serve as the lamp of His light.  It matters not the nature or the severity of the difficulty, an empty tomb resounds through the ages to declare God’s redeeming grace.  Yes, the worst thing became for the believing heart the best thing.  Little wonder that the Apostle Paul exultantly proclaimed of every darkness and difficulty…

“In all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.”

(Romans 8:37)