Notes of Faith March 21, 2025
Everything for Good
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28
Imagine you are baking a cake and you haphazardly add ingredients that you pull from your pantry shelf. When a friend inquires, you answer, “No problem; the cake will turn out fine in the end.” No culinary school would teach such a process; good outcomes depend on good ingredients when it comes to cooking.
But Romans 8:28 makes a promise that, regardless of the events we experience, whether good or bad, God causes all things to work for good in the end. That doesn’t mean we are given license to live our life haphazardly without caution for consequences and effects. Instead, it means that while we are pursuing a wise and obedient life, we will still experience difficulties, but God will use those difficulties to accomplish His good purpose in our life. Whether good or bad, God will use “all things” for His purposes.
When you are going through difficult times, trust in God’s promise. He will use those difficulties to make you more like Christ.
There is a certain kind of maturity that can be attained only through the discipline of suffering.
D. A. Carson
Gen 50:19-20
19 But Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in God's place? 20 "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.
Heb 5:8
Although He was a Son, He (Jesus) learned obedience from the things which He suffered…
1 Peter 4:1-2
Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh (died to sin) has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
All of mankind’s suffering is within the will and control of God. Remember Job…
God did not bring about his suffering, but Satan did, still under the control of God as to how much he could cause Job to suffer. This suffering drew Job closer to God, to trust God, to depend on God, even though he did not know his suffering came from Satan. Let us be more aware that Satan and the effects of sin bring about our suffering and God will bring us safely through even death to glory with Him in an eternal holy and healthy body and mind, to worship Him and live forever in what He has prepared for those who love Him.
Pastor Dale