Skip to main content

All Things

              He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

 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 (Romans 8:28)

Let’s begin with an obvious idea. When Paul wrote “all things,” he wasn’t saying that God would make us God, allow us to be repeatedly murdered in the most painful ways possible, or make it only rain between sunset and dawn (a la Camelot.) There are lots of things “all things” does not include and that we would not want it to include. If “all things” included all things we would get a lot that would ultimately do us harm, not just the things we think we want.

Today’s verse isn’t the only place in Romans 8 that we find the words, “all things.” Four verses earlier, we’re told that God causes all things to work out for the good of those called according to His purpose. Once again, the keys are the definitions of all things and good. So, working from the greatest commandment, “good” refers to what will strengthen our relationship with and our love for God, then what will strengthen our relationship and our love for our neighbors. I’ll go so far as to suggest that “neighbors” includes everyone and everything we encounter, with a slight emphasis on everyone. Thirdly, “good” refers to what will strengthen us and make us better able to love God and our neighbors.

In other words, all things isn’t likely to include much of what we want it to. It becomes a life of ease when we step down from the throne of our lives and learn to trust that all things God permits in our life are for our good and all things that God doesn’t permit are not good for us. As Dallas Willard describes it, the life of ease comes when we accept whatever God gives us as good, even when we don’t understand it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, anger, fear, jealousy, and lust can crowd out everything else. This is like
Post a Comment
Read more

The Right Road

          Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. (Psalm 139:7-12)                  For years before GPSes existed, I told people I wanted something in my car that would tell me, “Turn left in half a mile…turn left in a quarter mile…turn left in 500 feet… turn left in 100 feet…turn left now …You missed the turn, Dummy!” The problem isn’t necessarily that I get lost so much as I’m afraid I’ll get lost. I don’t want to have to spend my whole trip stressing over the next turn. I have the same problem with my spiritual journey.   
Post a Comment
Read more

Not Sharing

            Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure . (I Timothy 5:22) Today’s is a hard one. The part about not being hasty in the laying on of hands isn’t so much the problem unless your love language is Touch. We aren’t pastors. We don’t tend to be involved in commissioning anyone. What we don’t tend to think of when we hear “laying on of hands” is that it involves relationship and approval. Our sending them away as our representatives may not seem real to us, but just think about what being seen with the wrong folks can do to a reputation. I’ve heard that Billy Graham would not be in a room alone with a woman. Others follow the same policy, or at least make sure the door is open so that anyone who wants to can see that nothing’s going on. But the hard part is not sharing in the sins of others. What does it mean? It’s comparatively easy to say that being pure means not having sex with someone who is not our spouse.
Post a Comment
Read more