“FOR THE PUZZLED
As Christmas ornament-making has become a tradition for me, I periodically jot down ideas about what God is doing in my life. But this year, the process was clouded by my feelings about being jobless for the first time in my life after being unexpectedly dismissed from my position as President of CLF just three months short of my 30th anniversary!
Turning to prayer and the Bible for inspiration and guidance, I ran across Romans 8:28 and held onto its promise – “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.”
This Christmas, I dedicate this year’s ornament, “In All Things” to offer hope to everyone puzzled by life about how God’s view is clear even when ours is not.”
2008 "In all things..." Ornament
That life is puzzling to us but not to God really bugs me sometimes. You see, God holds this trump card – He is “sovereign.” This means that he is able to work things out to advance his own purposes. Wouldn’t you just love to be sovereign in that way?
Now God’s sovereignty is not only good news for him but also those of us who follow him. Why? Because God made everything “good” including humans who were made in his image and charged to rule creation in the same manner as he(Genesis 1:26-31). Those are his purposes.
But things didn’t work out that way because humans decided they wanted to rule their own way – contrary to how God prescribed. So humanity and creation is broken and pretty much existing apart from God, in opposition to his purposes.
But God is still sovereign and, because he is so, he WILL achieve his purposes. He has a plan that he revealed immediately when humans decided to go their own way. In Genesis 3:15, as he admonishes Eve for her participation in disobeying him, he also includes a promise – that the power of “sin” would one day be crushed by one of her descendents!
Down through the ages that followed, the plan unfolded as God “sovereignly” caused seemingly unconnected plots and subplots to “somehow” bring his plan to fruition. The promised descendent finally arrived on the scene in the form of Jesus. And then, through Jesus, God “crushed” the power of sin as 1stCorinthians 15: 21 summarizes: “just as death came into the world through a man (Adam), now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man (Jesus).”
So God getting his way is why we have Christmas but what has this to do with my hope in the midst of unemployment and the challenges that you are facing in your life? Well, look back to Romans 8:28 – “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.”
Those who love God also desire what God desires – his purposes. So as we believers conduct our lives in pursuit of His will, all things that occur, even the most evil and painful ones, will “work” for our good and to fulfill God’s purposes for our lives. That’s the promise. Now as to HOW God makes that happen, well – only He knows!
Since the passage says that God works in all things, he is surely working in mything as well. My part of the equation is to love him and to align my life with his purposes – even when I don’t fully understand how his purposes will be achieved through me.
To reflect that idea, the ornament is three sections of a puzzle with the “next” piece “missing.” When life is a puzzle, we don’t know what piece is going to fit in that spot, hence the bulb dangling there with a question mark (?) on one side. God working out the answer (in the background) is represented by the exclamation point (!) on the other side of the bulb.
All believers may rejoice this Christmas that God has our backs. At the same time, let us pray for family, friends and colleagues who are not yet believers. Since unbelievers are on their own, apart from God, pray that they soon begin to follow Jesus along with us so that they too can have the assurance that God has their backs as well!
Now God’s sovereignty is not only good news for him but also those of us who follow him. Why? Because God made everything “good” including humans who were made in his image and charged to rule creation in the same manner as he(Genesis 1:26-31). Those are his purposes.
But things didn’t work out that way because humans decided they wanted to rule their own way – contrary to how God prescribed. So humanity and creation is broken and pretty much existing apart from God, in opposition to his purposes.
But God is still sovereign and, because he is so, he WILL achieve his purposes. He has a plan that he revealed immediately when humans decided to go their own way. In Genesis 3:15, as he admonishes Eve for her participation in disobeying him, he also includes a promise – that the power of “sin” would one day be crushed by one of her descendents!
Down through the ages that followed, the plan unfolded as God “sovereignly” caused seemingly unconnected plots and subplots to “somehow” bring his plan to fruition. The promised descendent finally arrived on the scene in the form of Jesus. And then, through Jesus, God “crushed” the power of sin as 1stCorinthians 15: 21 summarizes: “just as death came into the world through a man (Adam), now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man (Jesus).”
So God getting his way is why we have Christmas but what has this to do with my hope in the midst of unemployment and the challenges that you are facing in your life? Well, look back to Romans 8:28 – “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.”
Those who love God also desire what God desires – his purposes. So as we believers conduct our lives in pursuit of His will, all things that occur, even the most evil and painful ones, will “work” for our good and to fulfill God’s purposes for our lives. That’s the promise. Now as to HOW God makes that happen, well – only He knows!
Since the passage says that God works in all things, he is surely working in mything as well. My part of the equation is to love him and to align my life with his purposes – even when I don’t fully understand how his purposes will be achieved through me.
To reflect that idea, the ornament is three sections of a puzzle with the “next” piece “missing.” When life is a puzzle, we don’t know what piece is going to fit in that spot, hence the bulb dangling there with a question mark (?) on one side. God working out the answer (in the background) is represented by the exclamation point (!) on the other side of the bulb.
All believers may rejoice this Christmas that God has our backs. At the same time, let us pray for family, friends and colleagues who are not yet believers. Since unbelievers are on their own, apart from God, pray that they soon begin to follow Jesus along with us so that they too can have the assurance that God has their backs as well!