“That’s Just the Way It is”

One of my go-to statements is, “It is what it is.” I use this phrase to explain situations I can’t change. Certain aspects of life are what they are. You can’t change them. Don’t fight it; just accept it. Other statements like, “That’s just the way things are,” “Such is life,” and “You can’t change it, so you might as well accept it” strike a similar tone. These statements assist us in reflecting on how God has set things up—the created order.

Jesus remarks in Mark 10:6, “From the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’” The first five words are very important. In Christ’s debate with the Pharisees about marriage, Lord appeals to how things were “from the beginning” for how things should be today. This pattern from Genesis provides us with an unalterable template for human should behave. You can’t go back and change what God has set up, so we accept what God has established. It is what it is.

Scripture speaks of this divine ordering elsewhere, too. Another passage is Rom 1:26 where Paul writes of sexual desires that are “natural” and “against nature.” Natural desires are ordered according to the created order, whereas unnatural desires go against the created order. God has ordered human sexuality in a specific way. To reject it is to reject the way things “naturally” are. Best to accept what God has made. Such is life.

Why is the one man-one woman union of marriage correct? Because both Scripture and the created order tell us so (Mark 10:6). We do best when we accept the way things are, rather than fighting against God’s order. Madness results from rejecting the created order, and we see this craziness today in our culture. Be a reality-accepter, not a reality-denier. Listen to Scripture and the created order. They speak with one voice—God’s voice.

Pastor Chance Sumner