The Calgary Sun article was incredibly sad. It detailed how a grieving mother struggled to understand an unprovoked, random attack that killed her son.
After painting a glowing picture of the 37-year-old victim, the reporter quoted the mom as saying “We mere mortals will never understand why, but God only wants the good ones.”
As painful as the article was to read, and as much as my heart went out to the mother, her words caused my brain to pause and ponder.
Who are the “good ones”? Are they funny, shy, gentle computer experts like the victim in this terrible event? What about someone who’s caused horrible pain to others, then turned his or her life around and tried to fix the damage? What if, somewhere down the road, that someone is the man charged in this Calgary murder?
There are some challenging forgiveness issues here. But there’s something else, too.
I happened to come across something written by an ancient guy who followed Jesus of Nazareth, who many people believe is the Son of God. He wrote, “There’s nobody living right, not even one.”
If you believe that, then everyone – even murderers and their random victims – is included in that levelling-the-playing-field statement. So if nobody’s “living right”, does God want any of us? Absolutely!
I’ve heard it said that the story of humanity is all about us wildly imperfect people spurning God and Him refusing to walk away from us, refusing to stop loving us, refusing to rescind the invitation to have a relationship with Him, through Jesus, that lasts for eternity.
Looking for proof? Check out these words from one of the people Jesus personally trained to follow Him: “God does not want anyone to be lost, but He wants all people to change their hearts and lives.”
That means every person on this planet, from the person you admire most to the Calgary killer, is in His sights. Everyone is invited home. What’s keeping you from accepting the invitation?
Frank's Cottage 
I get what the mom is saying and I think we tell ourselves whatever we can to find some comfort in a situation that defies logic, but I agree with you.
Even St. Paul was not one of the ‘good ones’ when he was taking pride in how many of the new radical group following the teachings of Christ he could arrest and send to their imprisonment or death. He persecuted followers of Christ, but God still wanted him, and changed him and used him to have the greatest impact on the world by preaching, mentoring and writing letters to his peers that we still reflect on today.
I see my precious, beautiful children and have found myself saying, ‘they are so sweet and good, I wonder what will happen to them,’ as if only sub-par children were never murdered or struck down with disease and mine are so wonderful something bad must be around the corner. How foolish, and how foolish to think that God ‘takes’ the ‘good’ ones.
It reminds me of when our son was born very ill and with lifelong disabilities. In an attempt to ‘comfort’ us, people would say “You must be great parents and God must have thought you were special enough to handle this,” and so on. It made me feel like, okay, if I was a bit less of a ‘good’ parent could I have healthy normal children? It didn’t make any sense, but none of this does and none of the tragic loss of life, especially young innocent lives in the wrong place at the wrong time, ever will.
We just have to know that, as Paul said in the Bible, right now we see through a glass dimly. We don’t see the whole picture and God can make things beautiful in His time.
Thanks for your very thoughtful comments, Carol. Being a God follower definitely means accepting the reality of mystery and knowing we’ll never have all the answers in this life.
“What’s keeping you from accepting the invitation?” Well, it could be a beloved hobby. It could be a career. It could be fear of rejection by your cool friends. It could be religious tradition, “I was born a (INSERT DENOMINATION) and I’ll die a (INSERT DENOMINATION).” But whatever we count special in this world is nothing to be compared to what God has prepared for those who love Him!
Gee, Brook, you’re settin’ me up to post a blog I’ve got in the wings called “What’s your thing?” Thanks. 🙂