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The Weekly Winning Thought

Is Your Life Falling Apart or is it Just Falling Into Place?

By November 29, 2022No Comments

“Not everything is as it seems.”

-Jose Saramago 

Have you ever had a day, week, month, or perhaps even longer when the stars aligned in your favor? You were feeling your best, performing your best, or perhaps experiencing life at its deepest level. Things could not get any better. Everything just fell into place.

Then the sun came up the next day. The refrigerator goes out, you have a flat tire on the way to work, your tax return becomes taxes due, and your child brings home an “F” on her report card. Today, instead of everything falling into place, things are falling apart.

On the first Palm Sunday, everything was falling into place. The Prince was riding through Jerusalem on the back of a donkey to the sounds of praise and cheers from the crowd. “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest! (Mk 11:9-10). The Prince would soon be crowned King and restore Israel to the prominence it once had. King Jesus would overthrow the Roman government and bring peace to the Middle East.

Then Friday came.

The Prince was betrayed by a friend, handed over to the authorities who placed a crown of thorns on his head and mockingly labeled him “King of the Jews.” He was given a speedy trial, absent due process. He was scourged to the point of disfiguration, handed His cross, and forced to march to His death through the same streets that just a few days earlier he had entered victoriously. Jesus’ journey ended at a trash heap outside of town where He received a common criminal’s execution on a Roman cross. His disciples were nowhere to be found, except one. Jesus’ followers were dispersing. On Sunday, just five days earlier, everything was falling into place. Now everything was falling apart.

Have you ever been there? I’m sure you have. You may be there right now.

A few weeks ago, I sat with a friend who was there. He lost his job after nearly 30 years with his company. At 56 years old, he could see retirement coming into sight. Just 10 more years of hard work and building up his savings was going to give him a mortgage-free retirement and peace of mind that he would be able to live comfortably. Then, things fell apart. He was told he was no longer needed. From falling into place to falling apart in record time.

That same week I sat with another friend. While successful in his professional career and financially comfortable, he shed tears of disappointment over his adult son who was suddenly stricken with a mental disability. He looked at me and said, “I feel like I’m standing on a dock and my son is an arms-length away from me drowning. All he has to do is reach out and grab my hand and I can pull him to safety, but he refuses to do so. I just don’t know what he’s thinking. I don’t know how his mind works. I feel helpless. I don’t know what to do.” Another world that seems to be falling apart instead of falling into place.

When Jesus breathed His last breath and said it is finished, His disciples and followers thought He was dead. They thought the world and their future had fallen apart. Actually, the opposite was happening; their future was falling into place. Their security had been sealed by the One who took their place. They had just been freed from the power of sin and death and a hope was being created for a future that did not include the sufferings of this world.

What the Followers of Christ did not understand that fateful Friday, is that Jesus was not dead. While they scattered, fearing for their lives, Jesus was preparing a place for them. Their grief over the events of not-so-good Friday turned into the joy of Resurrection Sunday when Jesus proved God’s victory over death and our hope for eternity. What had seemed to be the end had become a new beginning. The resurrected Christ turned cowards into lions and deserters into martyrs. The seemingly cloudy words Jesus had spoken about the future became clarifying battle cries of the newly courageous.

Has your world seemed to have fallen apart? Do things seem to be hopeless? Does life seem to have no purpose right now? Hang on. It may be Friday, but Sunday is coming! The Sunday that’s coming has nothing to do with the world’s economy. It is of another world – the world that believers can experience right now through the abundant life by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and the eternal future that is secure in the person of Christ.

What “seems” right now, may not be the truth. You may feel beaten down and anticipate an unpleasant ending in sight, but a new beginning is happening right now behind the scenes. God is at work in your seemingly hopeless situation, preparing you for the best that is yet to come.

The Apostle Paul reminds us that we “do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope (1 Th 4:13-14).” Here on planet earth, things are never as good as they seem nor as bad as they seem. But we can experience the joy of life that comes from fellowship with the risen Christ as we yield to the Spirit and trust God with our future.

There is a day coming when no pink slips will be issued and mental disabilities will disappear. A day when everything that is falling into place will have fallen in place, just as a Holy God has planned. And It won’t be short-lived. It will be for all eternity. Hold tightly to Jesus. Remember, today may be Friday, but Sunday is coming! Don’t give up … look up.

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