Do You Have "I" Issues?

By Jennifer Rothschild

"He must become greater; I must become less." John 3:30 (NIV)

In the late '70s I sat with my folks in a hospital room in the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. The doctors who had just completed tests on my eyes were explaining what it meant to have retinitis pigmentosa. They described how I would slowly lose my remaining sight and eventually be totally blind. My mind raced and my heart welled with confusing emotions. I was silent in that hospital room that day.

A few days later at my next visit, I only wish I had been silent.

We went back to the same room with some of the same doctors. This time it was to help me get on a rehabilitative program. One doctor described how large, thick glasses might help with the little vision I still had. Another discussed walking with a cane. Another doctor told me how important it was for me to have an oversized magnifying glass and advised me to use a flashlight to find my locker at school.

When Life Seems Unfair - Spending time with God puts everything else in perspective.

by Joe Stowell

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Our Daily Bread Radio is hosted by Les Lamborn

Read: Psalm 73

I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. —Psalm 73:3

Bible in a Year:
2 Kings 24-25; John 5:1-24

Have you ever felt that life is unfair? For those of us who are committed to following the will and ways of Jesus, it’s easy to get frustrated when people who don’t care about Him seem to do well in life. 

A businessman cheats yet wins a large contract, and the guy who parties all the time is robust and healthy—while you or your loved ones struggle with finances or medical issues. It makes us feel cheated, like maybe we’ve been good for nothing. 

If you’ve ever felt that way, you’re in good company. The writer of Psalm 73 goes through a whole list of how the wicked prosper, and then he says, “Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain” (v.13). But the tide of his thoughts turns when he recalls his time in God’s presence: “Then I understood their end” (v.17).

When we spend time with God and see things from His point of view, it changes our perspective completely. We may be jealous of the nonbelievers now, but we won’t be at judgment time. As the saying goes, what difference does it make if you win the battle but lose the war?

Like the psalmist, let’s praise God for His presence in this life and His promise of the life to come (vv.25-28). He is all you need, even when life seems unfair. 

All wrongs will one day be set right 
By God who sees both bad and good; 
All motives and all deeds will then Be fairly judged and understood. — D. De Haan  

  Spending time with God puts everything else in perspective.

http://odb.org/2011/05/16/when-life-seems-unfair/

Q : Why can someone who is a true Christian die this painfully ?

Answer: 

Christians get the same diseases that non-Christians get. It has to do with the fact that we don't live in the Kingdom. 

We live in a disordered, broken existence, and this brokenness includes our bodies. No exemptions have been granted -- not even for Christ, who had to suffer and die. 

The only difference and comfort for a Christian is that death doesn't have the final word.

No one knows why anyone, Christian or non-Christian, has to go through that much pain, why the brokenness has to express itself in ways as terrible as terminal cancer or AIDS. 

Don't believe anyone who says they know, because they're liars. I'm not being evasive by saying it's a mystery, I'm just saying that humankind has such limited knowledge that the only thing we really know is that our deepest parts scream that it's not right. 

That's a good indicator that God agrees with you, and is working on it, in tears.

gotquestions  http://www.spirithome.com/suffering.html