Thursday, March 8, 2012

Cause and A/Effect

As most of you know, one of Sports4HOPE’s main activities is a sport and peace education program for people with disabilities.  Most of the participants in our Smile4HOPE program have lower body disabilities directly or indirectly caused by the war.  Over the past couple months of working with our participants, I can’t help but wonder what the deep psychological impact of their condition has been the on each of them.  How have they reacted to their new life.  Do they blame God, saying that He has turned His back on them?  Do them embrace their condition as part of God’s plan for them?  Or do they see their situation as simply something that has happened, and use their faith and relationship with the Lord to turn it into something positive for them?
When thinking about these possibilities, my mind goes to a verse in the Bible that has weighed heavily on me for the past year or so.  In Romans 8:28 Paul states that “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God.”  This verse could possibly have infinite meanings depending on who is reading it.  But for me there are two ways to interpret the message.  The first is this.  Everything that happens in a believer’s life is caused by God and it is for the betterment of that person, whether that person knows why or how.  From my experience, people whom adopt this interpretation believe that whatever it is that has happened in their life, seemingly good or bad, was placed there by God for their own good and as part of His plan for them, and now they have to figure out how and why it was good.  
The second way of interpreting this verse is this.  In life things happen, from God, the Devil, or just from other humans, and the resulting attitude, decisions, and actions determine whether that event will have a good or bad effect on that person’s life.  The idea here is that God most likely did not specifically cause this thing to happen but regardless of how good, bad, or neutral it may seem, if you love and follow God and His teachings, then you and He together will make something good, come about from this event.  This interpretation focuses on the second half of the verse, “for those who love Him”.  If you love God and are called according to His purpose, you will be proactive in making whatever it is work toward not only the good of you but also for the good of God’s kingdom.  In Colossians 1:27 Paul reveals a “mystery”.  He says “Christ [is] in you, [and is] the hope of glory.”  If this is true Romans 8:28 has now shifted from God working outside of you and leaving you to figure it out on your own, to God working inside of you (Holy Spirit) guiding you on how to make all things work for your and His good.  To me this is incredibly motivating and exciting.  Paul is saying that if you “love” God, then all things in your life can be good for you.  And you are in control of whether that happens or not. 
For example, many of the people in our Smile4HOPE program, lost their legs due to Polio during the war.  Polio is not a big problem in Congo during times of peace, but during times of war, medical organizations are not able to bring in the required Polio vaccinations due to insecurity of the area, thus leaving those with Polio helpless against the disease and thus often losing limbs.  Those that take the former of the two interpretations may say, “This is all part of God’s plan for me.  I was meant to lose my legs.”  The other side might say, “The war, the lack of vaccinations, and the resulting effect of the virus on me was not an act of God.  It was act of man.”  I believe the problem with the first reaction is that it discounts human choice, and free will.  It discounts good and evil.  To me, the “All things work for the good” part of that verse is all on the inside.  It’s how you react to every situation.  That is what gives God the glory.  Whether the it’s from heaven or hell or fellow man, Christ has given us the option to make it work for the good of those who love Him.  The ball is in our court now.  How will we react, and what role will we invite God/Jesus/The Holy Spirit to play.  Will you choose to sit back and wait for the effect of the situation, believing it’s for your own good?  Or will you choose to affect the situation yourself, guiding it in the direction that your faith teaches you to, making it work for your own good?