“Oh Well, That’s Just Life”
“Oh Well, That’s Just Life”
Have you ever experienced something bad, and then shrugged it off by saying, “Oh well, that’s just life”?
I’ve said those words more times than I can count. But recently, the Holy Spirit has been convicting me, each time that expression slips out, that perhaps, as a Christian, that’s not an expression I should be using in that way…
In the beginning, when God first created people, we — along with every other aspect of life here on earth — were good by His good design (Genesis 1:26-27, 31). But instead of trusting that God knew what was best for us (Genesis 2:15-17), we decided that we would rather judge for ourselves what was good and what was bad (Genesis 3:1-7).
We disobeyed (or sinned against) God, despite His warning that our sin would lead to our deaths (Genesis 2:17) — death, both in an immediate spiritual sense, and in an eventual physical sense. And now, all people — including you and me — are born into this world spiritually dead, slaves to sin (Romans 3:23), and physically dying from the moment life’s first breath fills our lungs.
Each of us was born into a world that is now death-impregnated, and so our perception of life — from our birth — is tainted. Our understanding of life, from our physical birth until the first inhalation of our spiritual lungs takes place, is that life itself is death-ridden.
But we must remember that Jesus came to give us life, and life abundant! And not just in the hereafter, but in our here and now as well!
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins... But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with [Jesus] even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” - Ephesians 2:1, 4-5 (NIV)
Death was the wages of our sin; but life has always been a gift from God! And God is the giver of good gifts, never bad things.
The bad things you and I experience in this life are the residual effects of sin.
And though we may be inclined, instinctively, to respond to the bad things that happens in our lives with, “Oh well, that’s just life,” really, what we’re referring to as life isn’t life at all. It’s death.
I’m not suggesting we Christians should coin a new phrase. Although maybe we should. It certainly would be a conversation starter…
“Oh well, that’s just death.”
“I beg your pardon? You mean life, right? You meant to say, ‘That’s just life’?”
“No, I meant death!”
“Ummmm…”
“Let me tell you a story about a guy named Adam. One fateful afternoon, in the Garden of Eden…”
Yeah, probably don’t be that weirdo…
But I think that at the very least, as Christians, you and I should think twice about how we associate the bad things in this life with life itself. Maybe, there’s a better way for us to express the seeming normalcy of bad in our broken world, than to brush it off as a natural part of life — because the reality is, it’s anything but a natural part of life.
On the other hand, the next time you or I experience the goodness of God, I hope we’ll think to ourselves, “Ahhh yes, that’s just life.” Because that is exactly what life is…
Life is God’s gift to you and me, and it is very good.
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” - John 14:6 (CSB)
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