The Worst That Could Happen Can't Happen

What's the worst that could happen?

That was a question I asked myself many times. Usually, right before I did something incredibly stupid. The truth is, I never found out. Not because I didn't get caught, but because the worst never came (by God's grace). And, as a follower of Jesus Christ, it never will. It's true my life has been transformed; I no longer live the way I did before and I no longer desire to live that way. The likelihood of spending a night in a jail cell because I broke into a construction site is much less than it was way back when. However, there's more. As a follower of Jesus, the "worst that could happen" has been completely taken off the table. Imagine that! In Christ, "the worst that could happen" will never happen to me. Now I'm not talking some prosperity stuff, some name it/ claim it perversion of Scripture. What I mean is, the worst thing that could ever happen to anyone is dying without a relationship with Jesus. And it will not happen to me.

That leaves me free to do anything God tells me to do! I can love the people who hate me. I can give as much as God tells me to give, cheerfully. I can pray without ceasing and rejoice even in trouble. I can believe in things I haven't even seen come to fruition if God has promised them. I can give my life back to God in whatever way He designs without worrying about failure. Obedience is my success. Some of the greatest acts of kindness and selflessness were done in obedience to God. Some of those even cost men and women their lives. But the worst thing that could happen didn't happen to them either. 

Whether you believe it or not, this time on earth is not the end. We were never made to live this way, in a corrupt and decaying world, in sick and deteriorating bodies. Sin is the cause for the way we live today. The Bible says all of creation suffers the consequences of mankind's choice and awaits the day it will be free. But in the meantime, here we are. This is a season of decision making --deciding to serve God or reject Him; and a season of opportunity --the opportunity to live as if the worst that could happen will never happen to us or to live as if we don't care if it does. When I used to follow that question with an act of sheer stupidity, it was because I thought I could "beat the odds," or I could handle the consequences; and there are plenty of people out there today living their lives in the same manner. They've decided to reject God and their rejection is carried along only by their arrogance or by what they imagine the worst could ever be. God's word is clear, dying outside of the righteousness of Christ is as bad as it gets.

But for those who trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior, the worst that could happen is no longer an option. God uses everything for our good. The sufferings of this life on earth are reminders that we are not as spectacular as we believe ourselves to be, nor are we as important; they remind us how generous God is and how we much we, in and of ourselves, lack; they remind us what Jesus obediently endured for us; they lift our eyes from chronic navel-gazing to training all of our consciousness on Christ. In all of this we move toward becoming more like Jesus. Even death renders us in the presence of our Lord and Redeemer. And that is the best that could happen.