Read: Romans 8:28-39
Memorize: Romans 8:28
At a summer camp in 2001, I had a camper who went by the nickname "Goat". Perhaps he got the name for being stubborn because he made me look sheepish when he asked me a question after a passionate explanation of Romans 8:28.
I had come up with a story to illustrate the idea of everything working out for good that went something along the lines of: there was a boy who got cancer and had to battle through the treatments before succumbing to it's attacks, but before he passed on, the kid had a chance to witness to a nurse and she was saved. "That's great for the nurse", said Goat, "but that really sucks for the kid; how did it work for his good?" Goat was asking a fair question, and one that stumped me back then, but I have since come to know the answer as I have come to understand God's word more adequately.
The key to interpreting any portion of scripture is to use context (the verses before and after) to understand the right meaning. In Romans 8, God makes the promise to all who have been called according to his purpose (believers), that he will work everything out for their good. So what does that good look like? Verse 29 gives us a great insight: "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son."
The great good that everything works toward is the good of making us more like Jesus. Sometimes it means we have to suffer as he suffered and sometimes it means that we receive the blessings of answered prayers, but always it means that the circumstances of our lives are coordinated by the a master planner to make us Christlike - to the end of bringing God glory. For all of us who love God, there can be no greater good.
Comment:
Memorize: Romans 8:28
At a summer camp in 2001, I had a camper who went by the nickname "Goat". Perhaps he got the name for being stubborn because he made me look sheepish when he asked me a question after a passionate explanation of Romans 8:28.
I had come up with a story to illustrate the idea of everything working out for good that went something along the lines of: there was a boy who got cancer and had to battle through the treatments before succumbing to it's attacks, but before he passed on, the kid had a chance to witness to a nurse and she was saved. "That's great for the nurse", said Goat, "but that really sucks for the kid; how did it work for his good?" Goat was asking a fair question, and one that stumped me back then, but I have since come to know the answer as I have come to understand God's word more adequately.
The key to interpreting any portion of scripture is to use context (the verses before and after) to understand the right meaning. In Romans 8, God makes the promise to all who have been called according to his purpose (believers), that he will work everything out for their good. So what does that good look like? Verse 29 gives us a great insight: "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son."
The great good that everything works toward is the good of making us more like Jesus. Sometimes it means we have to suffer as he suffered and sometimes it means that we receive the blessings of answered prayers, but always it means that the circumstances of our lives are coordinated by the a master planner to make us Christlike - to the end of bringing God glory. For all of us who love God, there can be no greater good.
Comment:
- What kind of people would think that it is good to become more like Jesus, even if it means going through suffering?
- Have you ever gone through a difficult situation in which, at first, you could not see how God was working for good? What was it?
- Looking back on that situation, can you now see a little bit of how God was working?
1. Those that are already suffering, but probably not going through any great.
ReplyDelete2. Yes, that is for me to know, I shall tell no one on the internet.
3. Yes it was very clear, now I am a much better christian and appresiate little things more.
1.Christians.
ReplyDelete2.Yes.
3. Yes.
1. those who are honest-to-goodness in love with God and who want to be more like him, no matter what.
ReplyDelete2. well, i really like joey's answer to this one. however, i desire so greatly to attend the kings game that i will elaborate to better my chances. there are tons of way worse examples out there, but this is the first one that came to mind. last summer i was on the way home from italy and i had to switch planes in amsterdam. i was super homesick, exhausted, and pretty much just emotionally drained. and then my flight from amsterdam to california got canceled, and the next flight out wasn't until the next day. so i had to take a taxi to a hotel and stay there overnight and then get back to the airport the next morning and get on the plane, by myself, with about five dollars for food and no holland-language-speaking-capabilities. so i was pretty overwhelmed being my little 15 year old self. and i cried a lot.
3. yeah it all worked out. at the hotel i went to, by random chance (or was it?) i met another lady who was supposed to be on my flight to sacramento. and we talked a little bit about faith, so maybe I planted a seed and maybe she became a christian later on. who knows.
Joseph, regarding question 1, it is not people who have an easy life who consider it good to endure suffering, but rather those who have a mature view of their purpose in life - to become like Christ.
ReplyDelete