We Are Not Owed

It’s time for a guest post!! Here’s one from Jonathan Jones. Jonathan is a Doctoral student, Worship Leader, and student of the grace of God. When he’s not being a musical genius, you can probably find him working, teaching on grace, or being that guy playing guitar on campus. Point being, he’s cool AND smart. That’s a 1-2 punch combo folks. You can check out the blog he writes at http://jonathanmichaeljonesblog.blogspot.com/ or follow him on Twitter @j_mjones

I was recently in the context of a corporate worship service where the people prayed for healing of a man with cancer. It is clear from scripture that we should do this. Nevertheless, although God is perfectly capable of healing someone of sickness, we are not owed that. I would dare to say that the reaction people have toward God is usually negative. This is because we often refuse to acknowledge God in good circumstances. An example of this is the number of airplanes that take off and land safely each day. Does God get praise and thanks for those safe trips? Rarely. However, when an airplane crashes and kills hundreds of people, one of the first reactions is anger toward God. “How could you? Why would you do that? Why would a loving God allow that to happen?” Perhaps in his sovereignty, God allows terrible things to happen so that people at least acknowledge his very existence and, in doing so, his control over everything. Keep in mind we are not owed healing; we are not owed safety; and we are definitely not owed salvation. If we received what we were owed, we would all be in hell. God has graciously allowed some to be conformed into his image though and, in doing so, presented us as righteous, giving us the opportunity to spend eternity with him. Should we pray for healing and for good things to happen? Absolutely. Is it owed or guaranteed though? Absolutely not. We are not owed, but we should thank God when good things happen.