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Posted by A. B. Dada on February 5th, 2006
Last week we had to put one of our oldest cats to sleep. She was 13 years old and had a very fast spreading cancer. We got one more night of sleep with her before the bad news, but the lesson of the pure love you get from a pet is a good one. For those who don’t have pets, even a goldfish can give you a surprising amount of stress relief, but also a great deal of sadness when they pass on.
Late last year I lost a business due to mismanagement of paperwork and a loss of focus by myself on making sure the proper steps were followed. I grew the business from a $5000 investment into a $300,000 business that failed in literally 2 weeks. I felt that I was worthless not because I lost my business, but because I would lose the friendships of great customers, awesome employees and caring partners.
One thing I heard from people when they offered some words of comfort was that “Life just isn’t fair.” From a Biblical perspective and an anarcho-capitalist one, I have to disagree. I believe life is so fair to me that it reconfirms my belief that a loving God exists.
We come across so much evil and sadness in life that we belief that these things just happen out of chance and that there is nothing we can do to control it. I’m not coming out and saying that every direct sad circumstance happens directly because of a sin we may have committed, but I do know that every bad situation that has happened in my life has so many good consequences in the long run, and that is why I see fairness in everything. When something fair happens, it doesn’t mean good — it means balanced. If I want to sell you a loaf of bread for US$100, you’ll come back and say you want it for free. In the end we’ll agree to a price of say US$2. That’s fair. It isn’t perfect for me, it isn’t perfect for you — it is good for each of us.
Ephesians 6:13 NLT — “Use every piece of God’s armor to resist the enemy in the time of evil, so that after the battle you will still be standing firm. ” The NLT has a bit of a mistranslation here, though, the words “you will still be” is the greek word dunamai which translates to “possibly able.” God knows we will be able to stand firm after the battle. In the NIV the translation is “you may be able to stand your ground.” In the KJV the translation is “that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day.”
For me, this really gives me the hardcore sense that life IS fair — we may be able to withstand any evil, any sadness in our lives that we come across. What is required to perservere? God’s armor.
Sure, losing a pet isn’t necessarily a time of evil — but it is a hard time, a difficult period that we just don’t feel hope in becoming happy again. Yet it is during these times that we need God’s armor to get through the troubling times. God’s armor (as the NLT puts it in Ephesians 6:14) is worn through the verse: “Stand your ground, putting on the sturdy belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness.” God’s armor is His righteousness. It continues in verse 15 (again NLT): “For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News, so that you will be fully prepared.”
After the loss of our cat, after the loss of one of my businesses late last year, I was distraught. I wasn’t sure how the day would end, my grief and sadness was deeper than I could believe. It was just a cat! It was just one of many of my businesses. I had no idea how I could recuperate from either quickly and return to my happy self.
That made me recall Ephesians 6:13-15. I needed God’s armor (his righteousness), I need God’s truth (the Word), and I needed God’s shoes (the Good News), and I may be able to withstand this crisis, this evil, this sadness.
If you’re going through a difficult time in your life, grab all three. If you’re not a believer, the Word still stands! One of the worst things we Christ followers do to non-believers is to try to scare them into salvation, but I found that salvation is an easier process from the peace that the Word offers. If you’ve never read the bible or you were just too confused by the whole process, try the Book of Ephesians, Chapter 6, versus 13-15. When you are at your darkest moment, when the rent is 30 days late or the car is in repossession, read these 3 simple sentences. Close the book and then re-open it and read the entire paragraph that your eyes fall on. This is His truth, and now that you’ve worn 2 of the 3 items that He offers you for the battle against darkness, you’re on your way to finding some peace and being able to step on the road to happiness.
My cat didn’t come back to life. My business didn’t re-open its doors. I can still wake up with a smile knowing I made it through those battles without losing myself to them.
Life is fair! It is my actions that bring later reactions that I (and others) see as unfair. Yet let’s look back at what I thought was unfair: my cat died and my business failed. Did you know I had over a decade of happiness with that furbaby? Did you know I had almost 4 years of happy customers and a great deal of brightness with my business? Those times were great, the ends were terrible. That’s balance — that’s fair.
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