“The Worst Thing, the Best Thing”

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

(A repeat from 2012)

"The Worst Thing, the Best Thing"

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

     "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 no 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 are all complicit in the worst and most unjust event of history.  The Creator and Sustainer of our life and being died, at our hands and because of our sins.  Nothing compares.  This was the worst thing that ever happened to all of us.  And it always will be.

     However, by 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 believers' full hearts.  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 magnitude 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, He can surely He 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 capacity to lead and enable us through every challenge.  Yes, the worst thing became for the believing heart the best thing.  Little wonder that the Apostle Paul exultantly proclaimed of all other darknesses and difficulties…

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

(Romans 8:37)

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose."

(Romans 8:28)

Weekly Memory Verse

   "The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord."

(Psalm 33:5)