Whatever things . . . God is Good, All The Time!
We are His children . . . Holy is the Lord, and Worthy of our Praise!
”He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.“ Deuteronomy 32:4 NIV
Such a perfect description of the God we love and honor, and who loves us, even before we were born! Even before we acknowledge His sovereignty over everything! Even before we know and love Him. Even before we surrender our lives to Him through His Son Jesus, the Messiah.
After we surrender our lives to Him through Jesus, we become children of God. We are getting closer and closer to learning what it really means to be a child of God. As children of God, we are also heirs to His kingdom, along with His Son, Jesus. We are adopted into His family, a family that started with the Jewish people. You know, the people who inhabit the Promised Land, Israel? Together with the Jewish people, Christians in the New Testament church are all one family. Sadly, there are still a great number of Jewish descendants who do not acknowledge this. They did not receive Jesus when He came the first time, and a great majority still do not accept the truth that Jesus is their Messiah, some don’t even want to acknowledge God because of their unhappy history. But the time is drawing near when it will become very clear to them that God loves them and has been disciplining their rejection of Him, and they will finally and completely make a choice. I pray it is soon!
When we become born again Christians, we know we are God’s children, adopted into His family. ”For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” Romans 8:14-17 NKJV
God is good. He is the only one in creation who is good. He is the creator of good. Everything he created at the beginning He proclaimed as good . . . the firmament (heaven), the land and the ocean, everything green and growing, fruit and herbs, the sun and the moon for day and night, birds and sea creatures, animals who walk the earth and, finally, mankind . . . Male and female . . . Made in God’s image . . . all good. Mankind is His crowning glory. His purpose in creating us was to bring glory to Him through our lives, to be in companionship with Him, to manage his earth and everything in it, to be fruitful and multiply, and to bring others to the saving knowledge of the Gospel and reconcile us to Himself..
Wait! Backup! What was that you said? “If indeed we suffer with Him.” Yes, that one! We have to suffer? Well, why should our lives be any different than our Savior? Remember, Jesus (God in human flesh) gave up His existence in heaven to go through life as a human knowing He would suffer a painful death. He didn’t have to do that. But He did! And He did it because God the Father loves us and knew it was the only way to reconcile with mankind, His creation . . . Which, as you probably remember, walked away from Him in the garden of Eden. The result has been a fallen world full of evil. Suffering with Jesus is going through persecution, trials, and pain because of our faith in Jesus while living in this fallen world. The one thing we will not have to suffer is a painful death. Death for a Christian is sweet. It is just a door to eternity with our God. Holy is His name! Nothing to fear there. ☺️
Being a follower of Jesus Christ gives us joy knowing we will be in eternity with Him, but it is not an easy life for a lot of believers. Remember, again, Jesus said, ”You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake.” Luke 21:16-17 These are the martyrs. Also, ”Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.” I Peter 4:12-14 NKJV. This is all happening now, and has been happening since Jesus rose from the grave and people started following Him.
Suffering may sometimes be part of a Christian’s life, but there is still joy and peace. And God is still good, and full of compassion. He enables us to get through those trials. In fact, He allows them in the first place so we will remember to rely more on Him than on things of the world. And it is through those trials that we learn more about being a child of God. We also know how it will all end. There is joy in that knowledge.
God left us His Word, the Bible, to guide us, to warn us, to prepare us, to show us He loves us, and that His love will never be removed. When you read the Old Testament, you see He is raw and honest in His transparency about the rebellion and His discipline of His chosen people, the Jews. Some people have problems with the God of the Old Testament because they do not understand God’s discipline and plan for Creation, including how it became a fallen, evil world. They don’t understand there is a really big picture that covers from the creation of the world in Genesis to the end of all things as we know it written in the book of Revelation. The Bible is the best book you will ever read!
”O Lord, You are my God. I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, For You have done wonderful things; Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.“ Isaiah 25:1 NKJV. (Have I mentioned that I love the book of Isaiah?). These words of praise move my soul.
I pray that words of praise flow into your mind as you reflect on the love of God for you and all of His creation. He is mighty to save . . . He is the Alpha and Omega . . . He is everything good and holy. And He is in control!
Whatever things are good, think on these things!