All things work together for good

I noticed that once a person becomes a new believer, his or her favourite verse is John 3:16. It is like a Bible in a nutshell. But as he or she continues to grow in the Lord, another favourite verse comes in-that is Rom. 8:28 “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” (NKJV). Christian women love this verse. The reason we love this verse is because sometimes, we do not have an immediate answer to the issue or problem at hand. So we say “no worries, all things work together for good…” and we lay our burdens before the Lord. There are times when the greatest thing we can do, is not to do anything, in our own strength. Just do not do anything, except to leave our burdens at the foot of the cross. 1Peter 5:7 says, “Casting all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.” That is the best thing you can do. Our problem is “I do it my way,” rather than “His way.” Yes, sometimes we cast our burdens upon the Lord and say, “Lord, here they are, on the altar, I’m casting them all to you.” And then after the church service (if you are at one) what do you do? After the benediction, what do we do? We take the burdens again, put them on our shoulders and walk away. Nothing has changed. When the Pastor meets you at the door before you go home, he asks you a question: “How are you?” Your response is “just the same.” You mean nothing has changed. You were not impacted by the message. But if you really laid your burdens on the altar, you should be rejoicing as you go.

Basically we are inquisitive creatures and we want to figure out all the mysteries and complexities of life, suffering, health, death and eternity. So most of the time we approach life’s pressing problems with a mixture of faith and reason. I call this “reasonable faith”, not “blind faith.” Reasonable faith is not just based on experiential evidence, but also based on the faithfulness of God according to His promises; And He allows you to experience His promises. We must believe that God exists…without faith it is impossible to please Him,” (Hebrews 11:1-1-7). Therefore every time we have a burden, we are encouraged “to come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrew 4:16). Everything is under the umbrella of grace. All by grace and by grace alone. We are saved and sustained by grace. All the best for year, 2018.