Consider with me if you will, this make believe conversation:
Unbeliever/Believer– Hey Sri. How’s it going?
Me – I’m doing all right. Just got laid off. Looking forward to what the Lord has in store for me.
Unbelievers Response – Oh. Sorry bro! Don’t worry. Everything will be OK. Good luck with your job search!
Believers Response – Oh. Sorry Sri. God is in control and He has good plans for you. Good luck with your job search!
A fairly normal conversation I expect to have henceforth, with folks from both the secular and Christian world.
So, what’s wrong with this conversation/picture you ask?
I say plenty!!
You see, as a firm believer in God and a follower of Jesus Christ, having placed my faith in Him as my Lord God and Savior, I have a HUGE issue with this thing called “LUCK”!
Let’s establish who God is. I will just list His attributes here, rather than go into details of each of these attributes or what they mean or provide Scripture verses to highlight them (I will do so later, in a separate and dedicated post).
We can all agree that God is – all wise, all knowing, all powerful, self-existent, self-sufficient, is good, is love, is just – to name a few of the Almighty’s awesome and amazing attributes!
Now, let’s define luck. According to the Oxford Dictionary website (link)
- noun 1 success or failure apparently brought by chance. 2 chance considered as a force causing success or failure. 3 good fortune.
- verb informal 1 (luck into/upon) chance to find or acquire. 2 (luck out) N. Amer. succeed due to good luck.
So luck is, something good or bad happening, by chance.
You can immediately see why I would have a problem with “luck”!
In a world where God is all we agreed He is (see above), how can anything happen by chance? Would anything sneak by the Lord? How can anything happen in our world, in the Universe, without God’s express knowledge and will?
So, my dear friends and brothers and sisters, if you claim to believe in God, if you claim to have faith in Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, how can you wish anyone “Good Luck”? Is that not an inadvertent admission on our part that our God is not all sovereign and all powerful and all knowing?
“Oh, it just came out like that! I didn’t mean it.” some of you might argue. Why then do you speak without thinking of what you are about to say to someone, especially to an unbeliever who knows you are a believer?
The Lord gives us many opportunities to witness. Let’s not blow it because of our carelessness.
So, I pray that here on out, instead of wishing our believing/unbelieving family, friends and colleagues “Good Luck”, why don’t we bless them in the Name of the Lord or say a short prayer for them in Jesus Name or share with them a verse of encouragement from the Scriptures!
Who knows what amazing things the Lord can do, if we are willing to change the ways of the “old man” in us?
God bless you all.
Sri
Thank Sri 🙂