Lucky? Unlucky? Or?
Shortly after John the Baptist sent a couple of his disciples to Jesus to simply confirm Jesus’ identity, John found his head on a chopping block (literally) and delivered to Herod on a platter (the recipient of an angry woman’s revenge).
What a horrible, macabre end to a life lived wholeheartedly committed to the Lord.
So, last week, in the middle of a conversation with a friend who’d been following the John-blogs, she commented, “What an unlucky end for John…”
I scrunched my forehead…something didn’t sit right with that sentiment.
Then, Sunday morning as I listened to the teaching-pastor at our grandson’s church, there in the midst of a biblically solid message, this comment flowed: “Lucky for me, at the time, I was sitting right over there in that spot, when…”
Lucky for me…
Unlucky for John…
🤔
I frequently hear Jesus-followers use these words (or various synonyms of the same sort) in conversationand find my eyebrows lifting in question; and, admittedly, I’ve begun cringing (the kind of cringe that comes when you hear a fork scratch across someone’s teeth). Oy!
Here’s why it’s become such a big deal for me.
First, words matter. We best know what they mean and how they fit into the plumb line of Scripture.
As a student, still learning what Scripture tells me, I am completely convinced regarding the Sovereignty of God. To me, it is is an indisputable fact.
If this is so, then there is nothing that touches our lives that the Lord is not aware of…and allows.
Everything from life to death and in between…that affects us…does not happen by chance.
If I believe in chance, then I can not truly believe God has a perfect will for my life (Romans 12:2)…
“Luck and God’s will?” – The two can not go hand-in-hand.
I believe one or the other, I can’t believe both (not luck, not chance, not fortune)…
And…
if I believe in chance/luck, then what happens to faith?
There’s no need for faith.
No need for trust…we just resign ourselves to how the dice will land when they are thrown.
What a terrible way to live!
Were I to believe in simple good-fortune, or bad-fortune (as the case may be), I’d wake up each day living out the course of the day in nothing but fear.
I don’t, though.
I live each day with the faith that God is still on His throne…still looking ahead…knowing assuredly His plan will never be thwarted (and it’s a GOOD PLAN, which we may not always see or understand at any given moment).
God’s Sovereignty does one more thing for me.
Not only do I not live in fear, but knowing the kind of God who is in control of my life (His character, His grace, love and mercy), makes surrender to Him, and His plans for me, easier (note: easier, not necessarily easy).
Because of God’s Sovereignty, making friends with the hard-stuff finds a place in my world.
So, should things go south, turn pear-shaped, not go according to my expectations – I can be at peace and settle into true rest within my soul.
Were we to sit down and record a podcast with John the Baptist, I believe he would tell us the same thing ToDaY (!) about the end of his life:
Yes, while horrible and macabre – it was not a matter of good luck or bad; but, it was all part of God’s plan to 1) remind us Jesus truly was the Lamb of God; 2) there’s always a purpose we can’t see, even in the hard stuff; and, 3) even in death, God will use us as a witness to His Sovereignty.
So, if I could wave a magic wand and eliminate one word from the vocabulary of a Jesus-follower, that would be the word (and anything similar to it):
LUCK.
For me, there is No! SuCh! ThInG!
