Somebody’s going to emergency, somebody’s going to jail…

In Acts 12 Herrod gets a great idea to persecute the leaders of the new sect of Christ-followers. He arrested and executed James, the brother of John, close friend of Jesus, and former business partner of Peter. That won the “king” political points with the Jews, so he promptly seized Peter and threw him in jail with the intention of killing him, also.

But the church was “earnestly praying to God for him”, and, miracle of miracles, an angel showed up and walked Peter out of prison right by 16 highly trained Roman soldiers. I’m not so sure how earnestly the church was praying, though, because when Peter showed up at the place they were praying for him, they, in a stunning act of great faith, immediately thought their prayers must not have worked and that it must have been his ghost that showed up. Of course, once they figured out it was him there was a celebration! Peter is alive; their prayers have been answered; the gospel will progress. Success!

Except for one thing—James. I’m going to read between the lines here, but I’m certain that the church was praying for James, too. James was one of Jesus’ favorites; he had great Kingdom impact and a bright ministry future. Peter goes to jail and is saved; James goes to jail and is killed. This just doesn’t seem fair.

And it’s not. As any dad (like me Ativan 1mg) can be heard saying often to his kids…Life isn‘t fair. God is always just and loving, but in case you’ve missed it He isn’t always fair (Jesus said as much in John 21:18-22). You may be much more talented and full of character than someone else, but they have an impact and ministry that far exceeds yours. You may be the hardest worker at your job, but someone else gets the promotion. You may pray harder and read the Bible more than everyone else, but you go bankrupt, get sick, loose your kids….you get the idea.

While we can and should care about outcomes, our job is not to create or to get bitter about the ourcome—our job is to pray, to make a difference in someone’s life, to serve, to love, to obey. We can’t do these things because they will make life or God give us the results we want. Sometimes things turn out our way. Sometimes times they don’t. God always has the last word.

Success; failure; life; death. These things are in the hand of the Lord. We simply live as absolute servants of Jesus and let Him determine the outcome. Honestly, life is better when we trust Him this way. And If I’m walking in full obedience to Jesus, He is responsible for my life. “Fair” or not, in light of eternity, that is always a pretty good place to be.