As I’ve continued to study God’s word as I’ve grown older, I can remember a few times when I’ve realized my theology was a little off. Has that ever happened to you? I had one of those times this past weekend.
Sundays are usually my “rest day” from a workout perspective. For the last few months, I’ve gotten into a pretty good routine on Sundays of walking a mile, running a mile, then walking another mile with a friend of mine. This routine keeps our bodies moving, isn’t overly taxing, and gives us an hour to catch up on what’s happened in our lives. I look forward to this every week!
This past Sunday, my friend and I were running/walking and talking about her son who is deciding what he is going to do after college and has started interviewing for jobs. We talked about a few good things that have happened, and a few things he wished had gone differently, and concluded that it will work out in the end…EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON, right?
A couple hours later I was listening to the Eastside Christian Church Sunday service. They were just starting a new sermon series called “You Know What They Say”. Their guest speaker, Rusty George, kicked off the message time by going through a list of phrases that sound like they are in the Bible, but they aren’t actually Biblical. Guess what? The phrase “everything happens for a reason” isn’t actually in the Bible. Oops, I guess my theology was a little off. How timely this message was!
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those that love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).
Using Romans 8:28 as a foundation, Rusty shared a few messages that helped clean up my theology on this:
- If everything happened for a reason, that would mean God causes everything to happen. Could that be true? Does God cause everything, both good and bad, to happen? No – God is without sin and he doesn’t cause sinful things to happen. Sometimes our circumstances are a result of living in a world that is broken by sin, sometimes they are just an outcome of our poor choices.
- Things aren’t always good, but God is. He can work through good circumstances and through bad circumstances to accomplish his good purposes, but he is always working on behalf of his people.
- What are God’s good purposes? There is nothing more important to God than your soul. More than your happiness, health or prosperity, God wants you to spend eternity with him. Good is whatever brings God’s people closer to him.
- God is working for those that love him and are called according to his purpose. If you haven’t chosen to put your faith in Jesus Christ, God isn’t necessarily working on your behalf.
- Fortunately the gospel message, salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, is available to everyone, everywhere.
If you haven’t already chosen to put your faith in Jesus Christ so he can work all things together for your good, will you reconsider today?
https://www.eastside.com/youknowwhattheysay#content-jm93x