Wednesday, January 29, 2014

A Faithful God in An Unpredictable World By Steve McVey




Jennifer and Paul were discussing personal problems they were having one day. Jennifer said, "I can't make sense out of life. You do your best. You trust that God will work everything out. Then life falls apart anyway. It seems like what I do makes no difference."

I understood her frustration. I've felt the same way at times. Believing that I've covered all the bases, I've found myself sometimes bewildered, sometimes depressed, and sometimes even feeling resentment toward God when things didn't unfold as I had expected. We often expect life to fit within our sense of human justice, but it often doesn't work out that way.

G. K. Chesterton said that one problem he had with Christianity has to do with cause and effect. He observed that ninety percent of the time life works on the basis of cause and effect, but the other ten percent it didn't. That troubled him.

When I read his comment, I thought how I'd be okay with the 90/10 percentages he observed. My life hasn't seemed to work that way. It has seemed to me that things haven't worked out according to cause and effect more often than they have. I've noticed the same with others.

A family I knew reared their children in the same way. One grew up to be a responsible Christian with a professional position. The other ended up in jail for selling drugs. One Christian lady I know prayed for her husband to bust Christ, and he miraculously was converted. Another friend faithfully prayed the same prayer for her husband. One day he came home and announced he wanted a divorce to marry the younger woman he had been having an affair with for two years. One friend I have was healed of a life-threatening disease. Another gifted friend who was an author, a preacher, and an intellectual, died far too young, in my opinion.

How are any of us supposed to get through such an unpredictable life? How do we remain at peace in a world where everything can suddenly change in a moment? Martin Luther embraced a verse that answers that question. It is the verse that ushered in the Reformation.

"The just shall live by faith." It's that simple. We must choose to walk by faith in God. We have reason to know that our Father is a loving God, so nothing happens in our lives that He doesn't permit. He is a sovereign God, so nothing happens that He can't control. He is an omniscient God, so nothing happens that He didn't already know about in advance.

The question is, "Will we trust Him?" Some Christians think that faith means if we believe hard enough, things will turn out the way we want. Their faith is in faith. It's an approach to problems that combines a mix of secular positive thinking with a religious flair.

Authentic faith isn't intense, religious positive thinking that is intended to produce a certain outcome. Biblical faith means that we trust in God. Period. Not in a particular result. Not in a happy ending. Faith simply means that we trust Him, knowing that whatever the outcome may be, life will still be okay because He is in control.

Are you facing situations that make no sense? If so, relax. God is in control. He loves you and will always work all things in your life together for good. Don't mistake wishful thinking for biblical faith. Faith means that we rest in the fact that we are one with Christ - that a loving Abba is our Father who controls it all --- that the Holy Spirit will sustain us no matter what happens. Your life isn't a result of cause and effect. Your life is Christ. He has it all planned already. So let go of your attempt to control your own destiny and trust Him. He will guide you safely home.





 How God Saves Men
Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.
Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4


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