Romans 8
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose"
We experience evil and the consequences of sin every day. Sometimes it is the sin that comes from our lives, other times, we experience the consequences of the sin of others. The hope this verse provides is that God is always active, and that evil/sin is not the final word. The Christian faith declares that God's will be done even in the face of the evil of this world. That God has the ability and desire to work around the misdeeds of humanity to bring about good for God's creation. This is the will of God and nothing can thwart God's will.
The challenge for us is to have faith that God is working for us when things aren't going well.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This chapter helped me remember an important thing about our faith:
ReplyDelete"If God is for us, who can be against us?"
God never promises it will be easy, in fact He tells us it won't. Following His ways does not exempt us from the evil, bitterness, and pain of the world. There isn't a magic shield that will repel the persecution that often comes from others-if that was the case, then would Jesus have had to suffer and die a worldly death?
This past fall I discussed this topic a lot in a Bible study. I think this passage is important when trying to teach people about the way of Christ. So often people are quick to judge because they see Christians suffering. They don't realize how temporary the suffering is when compared to eternity in Heaven. I think this would be an important, yet difficult, point for me to make when sharing my faith with someone.
I would probably compare it to being an heir to a handsome trust fund. Someone has set it up for you so you could live the rest of your life without any worries. However, just because you have this fund does not mean that you don’t have to work to support yourself before you inherit it. This is what God has done for us. The ‘trust fund’ he has set for us is eternal life in Heaven. Until we inherit it though, we still have to ‘work’ our way through our daily trials and tribulations.