Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Clarification on Yesterday's Post


Today I need to clarify some things from yesterday. 

There is no way a few paragraphs can ever cover all the bases on a topic like why bad things happen. I do not think we cause all bad things to happen. As I’ve written in other entries on Good News! this is a telestial world and in a telestial world there are such things as weeds, abuse, diseases, death, destruction and all manner of natural disasters that cause us problems and sorrow—not to mention the bad decisions other people make. What I was trying to say is that in the midst of all this telestialness, I believe God will always be prompting us how to deal with it in the very best way possible. Sometimes that means we will be guided to avoid the problems and adversity. Sometimes it means we will be strengthened to endure the problems. Sometimes it even means that the adversity is giving us the opportunity to help in the Lord's work by being an example to others. In any case, adversity if endured well will always word for "good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28).

What I was trying to say yesterday is that we need to listen more. I didn't say that adversity happens because we do something bad. I do not believe that.  I said that sometimes the Lord is prompting us to do things that would help us avoid future adversity but because we aren't listening we are unable to avoid it. But whatever the situation, whatever the outcome, whatever the reason, we will be better off if we listen and follow the Spirit. That is what I was trying (and failed) to say: we need to listen better to the Spirit. 

Telestial life keeps us occupied with worry, stress, anxiety, fear and even positive things like excitement, expectation, and busyness. But life becomes easier and better when we learn to break through that mental chatter and listen and follow the Spirit.

PS Thanks to all of you who left comments or emailed so that I realized I hadn't adequately stated what I meant! I hope this helps.

1 comment:

Wendi said...

I appreciated this line from your previous post: ...(God) provided an Atonement that, not only overcomes our sins, but compensates us for all we suffer unfairly, if we just trust in Him.

And I agree that learning to break through the mental chatter and better listen to the Spirit is so important in helping us deal with the challenges of this life.

P.S. Those spring flowers sure do look pretty. :)