Romans 8:28

Working all Things Together For Good

/ pastorpete51 / 7 Comments 
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 NKJV

As you are preparing for Thanksgiving, you may be tracking down the family china, defrosting the turkey or running to the store for eggnog. The details of the day with its hustle and bustle sometimes muddle the point of the holiday for a moment. For Jesus and His disciples, the preparing for the Passover were very much the same. Special food had to be bought, a table laid out and certain decorations set in place. While we bring to mind the Pilgrims, the Native Americans and the Mayflower they were remembering their deliverance from Egypt. It was sort of what I like to call – The Jewish Thanksgiving.

And it struck me, that on that special night, that things were not what they appeared. Just beyond the candlelight of that table, the religious leaders were putting plans in motion to arrest Jesus and have him executed. Everything looked good while the disciples were at the table with Jesus, but the reality for Jesus was that the worst day of His life, lay straight ahead. Judas would betray Him, Peter deny Him and all of them whose feet He washed, would run away.

For Jesus, the song He sang with His disciples as they left for the Garden must have had some sadness to it. With the same bittersweet sense of loss that many of us face at Thanksgiving, Jesus still trusted His Father to work all things together for good. He couldn’t see it yet, but His betrayal, led to our salvation, His last meal would still be shared today, and His cross would give forgiveness of sins to hundreds of millions around the world. And when in times of grief or discouragement we wonder how all things are working together for good, remember that even Jesus cried out to His Father for another way. Yet, at His lowest point, Jesus surrendered to His Father’s will, “Not my will but Yours be done”. And His Father answered that prayer, but it was three days later. There God had completed working everything together for good. Then Jesus gave life in the place of death, eternal joy for temporary sorrows and a golden crown in the place of thorns! Why not crown Him Lord over all we are passing through today and believe with all our hearts that He is working all things together for our good?

All Things

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

When I think of all things working together for good I wonder how that fits into my real world of all things and remember that September 10th, 2001 my wife and I returned from visiting her family in San Francisco. We landed in Newark early in the evening and drove home, worn out and ready for bed. I slept soundly, got up and had my morning coffee and prayer time, then headed off to work with my landscaping business. About ten o’clock, as I was mowing a very large lawn of a doctor’s home, I saw his wife walking down the hill towards me, still dressed in her bathrobe. I turned off the tractor and looked up as she said, “Do you know the twin towers in New York? I just saw on the news that they fell down.”

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“What? Are you sure?” I asked incredulously “That’s impossible!”

“No Peter. Believe me, it’s true. A big plane hit one building a little while ago, then another just crashed into the other one and they went down – flat to the ground.”

At this point I turned off the mower shaking my head, unable to process what she had said. As she made her way back up to the house, I went over to where my truck was parked and turned on the local news channel. I was sure she couldn’t be right about that till I heard someone say, – “A terror attack.” –

“But who? Why? How?” This Saturday twenty years will have passed and I am still wondering how all things working together for good has anything to do with our nation and our world. But Paul is clear and after his experience which included, beatings, instead of promotions and imprisonment in place of popularity, he knew a thing or two about what all things might contain. If all things were good at all times for the Christian we would be in no need of the promise. But after our greatest dreams lie in the ashes of a terror attack, a dreaded disease or the broken promises of a relationship, God still keeps His promise. He still works for the good of those who love Him. And no matter what very real circumstance you are facing dear one, remember how all things looked from the cross. After feeding five thousand, healing blind eyes, comforting the hurting and walking on water, the feet of Jesus were nailed to a cross. He had been sold out for money by someone who called himself a friend, and denied and abandoned by all but His mother and John. There Jesus was given vinegar to drink while blood from the crown of thorns coursed down over His lips. That cross was the all things Jesus took for us. Instead of working out everything for good for Himself, He worked out a plan that included Heaven for us. Yes indeed all things do work together for good and one day when we leave all things behind of this life we have a promise of a home and a place to come and sit by His side!

God’s Master Plan

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

Our hope in Jesus Christ through every difficulty is that He works all things together for good. Sometimes God’s master plan is that our sufferings today will be the seed of His grace in the lives of others tomorrow. And in everything it will always be forever for our 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

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