Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33b).

Warren Buffet tells a story, sometimes called The Ovarian Lottery, which speaks to the futility of the expectation of “fairness.” The story goes something like this. Suppose a genie came to you and told you that you can set the rules by which the world will operate for 100 years. You can set the economic rules, the political rules, tax laws, the legal system, the health care system, the educational structure, and every other system and regulation by which the world will operate.

That would be an extraordinary opportunity! But then the genie tells you that there is a catch. There’s always a catch! The genie says that after setting the rules you will cease to exist as the person you are, and you will be born into this world…

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25f).

Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (Matthew 25:31f).

If there is no God, who both knows what is right and has the power to effect the right in a final resurrection and judgment, then Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Chairman Mao and every other wicked, murderous tyrant are the winners, while their victims, many of whom were women and children, are the losers. If there is no God, then life is about winners…

Last week at the Oasis retreat a pastor reported that a 71 year-old man and his wife prayed to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior the previous Sunday. Interestingly, the couple had been serving at the church’s monthly feeding ministry for years, but did not attend church worship services. Then, surprisingly, they came to church that Sunday, professing Christ and requesting baptism. I say “surprisingly,” but the Spirit’s work in the hearts of that couple reflects a familiar story in the long history of the Church. When God’s people show mercy to the hungry and hurting, and do so in Jesus’ name as a testimony to the power of the gospel, hearts and minds open to Jesus in new ways.

When I was beginning my pastoral ministry, someone told me that if I will look for hurting people, broken people, and love them and show mercy toward them, that…