Jimmy Stewart and the Good News

I read another blogger's review of the old Jimmy Stewart movie, "It's a Wonderful Life". The blogger seemed to focus on "life being unjust" and perhaps George would have been better off if he had not been so self-sacrificing in his dealings towards others.

What I like about the movie is that it DOES portray life as unjust and affected by many uncontrollable circumstances. That's a true portrayal. Sometimes we fool ourselves into thinking that we ourselves can control all things, that somehow if I make a plan and carry it out, if I do everything just right, that all will eventually turn out just as I had planned

But that is not the case. Life has sudden unexpected turns. All you have to do is look at your own life and those around you. Yes, being sensible and doing the right thing, and planning ahead, etc., are all good things to do. But when all is said and done, life is unjust.

If you don't think so, then think about just this past year. One single year. And remember all those headlines you read about people dying in accidents, people killing people individually and en masse, your friend becoming ill at a young age with a disastrous illness, that new baby that entered the world stillborn or crippled. Or one single three-year-old Anthony Caylee. This world is unpredictable and destructive. And it is certainly unjust.

That sounds really, really negative, doesn't it?

I don't mean this to be a negative point. Instead, my point is that we really do not control the events of our lives. Unexpected bad things can happen to any one at any time. Life is unpredictable. (But that does not negate or preclude our loving one another and attempting to provide for those who have been treated poorly by life itself.)

As a Christian I am reminded every year that even our Lord was treated unjustly, so that we could be made "just" before a righteous God. My sins and the sins of all those who are His, went to the cross with the Christ. There He died for them so that we might not die the death of total separation from God. Yes, I die physically. But for those who believe, eternal life itself begins now (John 5:24). We have that hope, that expectation, that joyful news that the angels first heard outside of Bethlehem. (Luke 2:10,11 and 14)

Put your cursor over these scriptures and read about this Savior!
John 18:37; 1 John 3:8; Hebrews 2:14-15; Mark 2:17; Luke 19:10; Mark 10:45; Galatians 4:5; John 3:16, 17; 1 John 4:9; John 10:10; 1 Timothy 1:15; Luke 4:18; Romans 15:7-8

So then how do I walk out each day? By taking one step at a time, trusting God to walk before me, to teach me, to guide me, to save me. And during all of that, never to despair. (Romans 8:31)