A Good Thing Gone Bad

“A good thing gone bad.”

When I hear that phrase, I usually think of this statement a pastor made many years ago: “Some things that begin in the Spirit end in the flesh.”

Someone said, “The seeds of its own destruction are inherent in the conception of a thing.”

Many churches begin with great visions and enjoy successes for years, but some die or “go bad” because of “sin in the camp,” to use on Old Testament expression.

The nature of things in this fallen world is to degenerate. Stuff tends to age and fall apart.

Marriages often begin with pure motives and wonderful plans, but life can deal deadly blows to couples. A husband or wife is often blindsided by sin or just the plain hardships that come with living.

A person who has been dramatically saved by Christ can “drift too far from the shore,” to use the words from an old song, and end up with shipwrecked faith. Though he may repent and still claim a belief in Christ, the drifter may lose his testimony, influence and even his self-respect.

I often think of King Solomon. He started out with humility, joy and wisdom, but his sensitivity to the beauty of wisdom and truth gave way to his sensitivity to physical beauty and the lusts of his flesh.

Many a good thing can go bad. We must trust Christ and be on guard against our fallen natures.

Jesus said, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Someone said, “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”

'Life Is Hard, but God Is Good'

Many vehicles are parked close to the Wal-Mart nearest to our Southern Pines, N.C., home on a recent Saturday afternoon, so I stop in front of a store entrance.

“I’ll wait in the car and watch for you to come out,” I tell my wife Carol.

She exits our Buick and walks through an auto-opening door leading to a world of merchandise housed in the “big box store.”

Planning to drive back to that entrance when Carol reappears from the belly of Wally World, I motor to a vacant parking space about 200 feet away, roll down some windows, cut the motor and tune to 90.3 FM, an AFR (American Family Radio) station.

I’m feeling a bit nostalgic as I watch people move in and out of Wal-Mart, and then AFR sends out a slow, soul-gripping song containing these words: “Life is hard / The world is cold / We’re barely young / And then we’re old / But every falling tear is always understood / Life is hard, but God is good.”

I feel moisture in my eyes. Those simple lyrics cause me to think about life and my wife. I’d just seen Carol walk into Wal-Mart, using her metal cane as she moved along. She broke her left ankle over three years ago. For a few seconds, I picture her as she appeared during my army days, when we were first married and lived for short times in Denver, Colorado, and Salinas, California. Since then, we’ve learned that life can be hard and sometimes the world can be cold.

I used to wonder why I’d hear older people say, “It seems like only yesterday when….” The passing of time surely couldn’t be that shocking, I’d think when I heard that expression. Now I know more of the meaning of the song’s words: “We’re barely young and then we’re old.”

Is every falling tear always understood?

Yes, I think that statement from the radio song is true. Jesus said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing (a penny)? And one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father (knowing it)…the very hairs of your head are numbered” (Matthew 10:29-30).

God knows our sorrows.

Isaiah prophesied that Jesus himself would be “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3).

In the 1970s, Carol and I used to sing “For Those Tears I Died” by Marsha J. and Russ Stevens. Here are the words of that song’s chorus: “And Jesus said, ‘Come to the water, stand by my side / I know you are thirsty, you won’t be denied / I felt every tear drop, when in darkness you cried / And I strove to remind you / It’s for those tears I died.’”

When Jesus’ friend Lazarus grew sick, Mary and Martha sent for Jesus to come and pray for Lazarus, their brother. Jesus arrived four days after Lazarus died. After talking to the grieving sisters and seeing Lazarus’ friends weeping, Jesus became deeply troubled. The scriptures record that “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). He then ordered the stone removed from the tomb and prayed aloud to his Father, ordering Lazarus to come out. Though Jesus resurrected Lazarus, he wept before he raised Lazarus from the dead. Jesus cried when he saw others weeping and felt their sorrow.

Yes, I believe that Jesus understands falling tears.

I’ve thought a lot about that radio song’s last words: “Life is hard, but God is good.”

Satan wants us to doubt God’s goodness. The Devil’s first Bible-recorded words, “Yea, hath God said…?,” challenged God’s Word and integrity. Satan wanted Eve to believe that God was cheating her of knowledge, that God wasn’t honest and loving. If Satan can get someone to doubt that God is who He says He is in the Bible, then that person’s “foundation upon which Christian faith can build” begins to crumble.

Jesus said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father,” and St. John wrote, “He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love. Love is manifested in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:8-9).

“Life is hard, but God is good.”