Serious Times -- Making Your Life Matter In An Urgent Day

Greetings All,

     This week's "thought" comes from a book entitled: "Serious Times -- Making Your Life Matter In An Urgent Day."  It's by James Emery White, an adjunct professor at Gordon-Conwell's Charlotte, N.C. campus.
     It's a book that encourages us to press on in earnest faith and directed purpose as we see the huge and seemingly unstoppable grinding gears of our secularized culture seeking to crush, as they turn, many time-honored (and we believe) God-given Judeo-Christian concepts and virtues. It's a powerful force that can make Christians pessimistic about even being able to stop that very intentional onslaught.
     Yet it's nowhere near as powerful as the sovereign God who's influences in society it seeks to eradicate. God remains in control despite what things may seem to us -- the God who laughs at the kings and nations who conspire against Him and shake their fist at Him (Psalm. 2:4-5).  He has not vacated His throne, nor will He ever abandon His people, despite growing opposition to those who seek to faithfully adhere to His Word.

     In that light White's book is a much needed reminder of what God's people can do, and need to do, to live each day with a more single-minded purpose and regain the confidence to believe that our prayers, input, and contributions can make a difference for the better.  Enjoy.

Developing Our Minds

"Let every student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed, to consider well [that] the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, Jn. 17:3, and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning."

Founding Mission Statement of Harvard University, 1643

     "Forty-two percent of American adults can't locate Japan on a world map. Nearly 15 percent can't locate the United States. Seventy million Americans do not know that Germany was our enemy in World War II.  A U.S. Department of Education survey found that 50 percent of all American students were unaware of the Cold War; 60 percent had no idea of how the United States came into existence. Roughly 60 percent of the adult population of the United States has never [voluntarily] read a book of any kind, and only 6 percent reads as much as one book a year -- even when "book" is defined as a Harlequin romance or self-help manual. Only 41 percent of American teenagers can name the three branches of government, but 59 percent can name the Three Stooges (Statistics found in "The Twilight of American Culture," Morris Berman, Norton, pages 33-36).

     The life of the mind comes easier to some than others, but the "closing" of the American mind, as Allan Bloom pointedly described it, has become legendary. Yet it goes without question that our minds form a critical part of our life, particularly for Christ followers. Jesus made it clear (Mark 12:30) that our minds are integral to the life lived with God; when summarizing human devotion to God (Deut. 6:5) as involving heart, soul, and strength, Jesus added mind.  He wanted there to be no doubt that when contemplating the comprehensive nature of commitment, our intellect would not be overlooked.

     Yet as Harry Blamires reminds us, "There is no longer a Christian mind."  A Christian ethic, a Christian practice, a Christian spirituality, yes -- but not a Christian mind.  "As a thinking being," Blamires writes, "the modern Christian has succumbed to secularization." Or as Mark Noll had dryly noted, the scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind.  Worse, there is even a bias against the intellect...

     Yet it is precisely a cultivated mind that is needed for our day.  John Stott writes, "We may talk of 'conquering' the world for Christ. But what sort of 'conquest' do we mean? Not a victory by force of arms... This is a battle of ideas." This was the concern of the Apostle Paul who reminded the Corinthian church that, "we do not wage war as the world does... We demolish arguments and every pretense [mindset/worldview/understanding of reality] that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (II Cor. 10:3-5).

     The devaluation of the intellect is a recent development within the annals of Christian history. While Christians have long struggled with the role and place of reason, that the mind itself mattered has been without question. Even the early church father Tertullian (c. 160-220), who had little use for philosophy, would have held in disdain any anti-intellectualism that celebrated an undeveloped mind. Throughout Christian history knowledge has been celebrated for the key role it plays in spiritual development.  Knowledge invites contemplation through preparatory reading and Scriptural meditation. (Jean Leclercq, "The Love of Learning and the Desire for God.")

     The "two constants of western monastic culture," writes Leclercq, are "the study of letters" and "the exclusive search for God."  The very foundation of the liberal arts as an education can be traced back to the monastic education developed during the Middle Ages.  There was sacred learning through the Bible and secular learning through the seven liberal arts (grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music) ... [These were seen as]... the way to the wisdom contained in the Word of God.  In other words, to the development of a Christian mind.

     Mark Noll puts it bluntly: "If evangelicals do not take seriously the larger world of the intellect, we say, in effect, that we want our minds to be shaped by the conventions of our modern universities and the assumptions of Madison Avenue, instead of by God and the servants of God."  And even if we do not lose our own minds, we will certainly lose the minds of others. This is the double-edged threat of our day: apart from a Christian mind, we will either be taken captive by the myriad worldviews contending for our attention, or we will fail to make the Christian voice heard above the din.  Either we begin to think, or we lose the fight." 

     The statistics he states at the beginning are shocking to say the least.  Yet we can see a little bit of how this process of "losing our minds" is gaining momentum when we look around at our dwindling attention span, news-snippet culture, and the social media. The old cartoon of a husband and wife sitting at the breakfast table diligently reading newspapers (or in a more negative way, a husband reading the newspaper while the wife seeks to get his attention away from local and world events, to her needs) has been replaced by both spouses checking their emails and Facebook accounts.

     That is, we tend to read only of our friends personal and family issues, look at some jokes, little quips, various pictures, or one liners. And if we do read about national or world issues, they are usually one or two paragraph summaries (usually from a very slanted or one-sided viewpoint). It helps us know how everyone "feels" about certain stories or trends in general, but in no way helps us to be able to speak intelligently about them. One person responds or reacts to how the other feels in an affirming or disputing way -- without ever researching the all the facts or seeking to know the whole truth. The greater picture of what God is up to in the world is lost amid a plethora of trivialities that will be forgotten before lunch time, or by the time the day ends.

    To put it in other words, we know what we feel about many things, without knowing much about those things. The statistics White quotes at the beginning display how we have given up seeking to be well-informed, and have accepted (in many cases) very partial, stunted and biased views on many issues. Very often we become "side-takers" instead of informed participators in ongoing discussions, forgetting what J. I. Packer wisely pointed out: "A half-truth, when presented as the whole truth, is an untruth."

      As Christians we should seek to avoid that.  For as Jesus tells us, we are to be those who, "love the Lord our God with...  all our mind."   All our heart, soul, and strength as well?  Yes.  But never to the exclusion of our minds.  For Jesus commands us to use all the powers of our God-given intellect in seeking to love Him and bring Him glory.  That calls us to think and research, instead of simply react emotionally. To get the whole story, and not just little biased snippets we agree with even if not totally true.  We are to honor Jesus with the gift of a well-researched, well-reasoned, well-thought-through and wise response, instead of an uniformed emotional reaction. To be able to speak the truth in love, we must first engage our minds in seeking it (as best we can) realizing the whole truth is sometimes purposely hidden from us.

Just some food for thought -- Pastor Jeff

The Wrath of God

Greetings All,

     This week's 'thought' comes to you from J. I Packer, and is found in his superb book, "Knowing God."
     It deals with a topic many people (believer and non-believer) struggle with -- the concept, or better yet, the reality of God's wrath. Packer, knowing the confusion people have in regard to this common biblical subject seeks to explain, clarify and clear up some of the common misconceptions with regard to it.

     I have also added a second helpful thought from A. W. Tozer.  Years ago I found them very helpful. I trust some of you might find them helpful as well. Enjoy.

The Wrath of God

     "The modern habit throughout the Christian church is to downplay this subject. Those who still believe in the wrath of God (and not all do) say little about it. To an age that has unashamedly sold itself to the god's of greed and pride and sex and self-will, the church mumbles on about God's kindness but says virtually nothing about His judgment.

     How often during the past year did you hear (or if you are a minister did you preach) on the wrath of God? How long is it, I wonder, since a Christian spoke straight about this topic on the radio, or television, or in one of those half-column sermonettes that appear in the national dailies or magazines.  And if they did so, how long would it be before they were asked to speak or write again. The fact is that the subject of divine wrath has become taboo, and modern society, and Christians by and large, have accepted the taboo and agreed never to even bring the subject up....

       [Yet] the theme of God's wrath is one about which the biblical writers felt no inhibitions whatever. Why then, should we?  Why, when the Bible is vocal about it, should we feel obliged to be silent?  What is it that makes us awkward and embarrassed when the subject comes up; that prompts us to soft-pedal it and hedge when asked about it? The root cause of our unhappiness seems to be a disquieting suspicion that idea of wrath is, in one way or another, unworthy of God.

     To some, for instance, wrath suggests a loss of self-control, an outburst of "seeing red" which is partly, if not wholly, irrational. To others it suggests the rage of conscious impotence, or wounded pride, or plain bad temper. Surely, it is said, it would be wrong to ascribe to God such attitudes as these.

     The reply is: Indeed it would.  But the Bible does not ask us to do this.  There seems to be here a misunderstanding of the anthropomorphic language of Scripture - that is, the biblical habit of describing God's attitudes and affections in terms ordinarily used for talking about human beings. But when Scripture speaks of God anthropomorphically, it does not imply that the limitations and imperfections which belong to the personal characteristics of us sinful creatures belong also to the corresponding qualities in our holy Creator. Rather it takes for granted that they do not.

     Thus, God's love, as the Bible views it, never leads Him to foolish, impulsive, immoral actions in the way that its human counterpart too often leads us.  And in the same way, God's wrath in the Bible is never the capricious, self-indulgent, irritable, morally ignoble thing that human anger so often is.  It is, instead, a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil.  God is only angry where anger is called for.  Even among humans, there is such a thing as righteous indignation, though it is, perhaps, rarely found.  But all God's indignation is righteous.

     Would a God who took as much pleasure in evil as he did in good be a good God? Would a God who did not react adversely to evil in His world be morally perfect?  Surely not.  Yet it is precisely this adverse reaction to evil, which is a necessary part of moral perfection, that the Bible has in view when it speaks of God's wrath."

It might also help to know that God's "wrath" is often devoid of "anger" altogether. It is, rather, a very intentional and "calm" determination to "give people over" (let them have) the sin they want (along with the consequences of that sin). Paul speaks of this when he tells us that "the wrath of God is being poured out" -- not in fire from heaven, or cataclysmic disasters -- but in simply letting people have the sinful things they want (see Romans 1:18-32, and especially verses 24, 26, and 28). In this sense His wrath is a "calm" form of judgment upon people who stubbornly persist in their sin and rebellion.

     A. W. Tozer's words from his book "The Knowledge of the Holy," are also helpful here.  There he states:

     "Holy is the way God is. To be holy He does not conform to a standard. He is that standard. He is absolutely holy with an infinite, incomprehensible fullness of purity that is incapable of being other than it is. Because He is holy, His attributes are holy. That is, whatever we think of as belonging to God must be thought of as holy.

     God is holy and He has made holiness the moral condition necessary to the health of His universe. Sin's temporary presence in the world only serves to accent this. Whatever is holy is healthy; evil is a moral sickness that must end ultimately in death. The formation of the language itself suggests this, the English word holy deriving from the Anglo-Saxon halig, or hal, meaning "well, whole."

     Since God's first concern for His universe is its moral health, that is, its holiness, whatever is contrary to this is necessarily under His eternal displeasure.  To preserve His creation God must destroy whatever would destroy it. When He arises to put down iniquity and save the world from irreparable moral collapse, He is said to be angry. Every wrathful judgment in the history of the world has been a holy act of preservation.  The holiness of God, the wrath of God, and the health of the creation are inseparably united. God's wrath is His utter intolerance of whatever degrades and destroys. He hates iniquity as a mother hates the polio that takes the life of her child."

     I hope -- if nothing else -- you may have gained insight into what God's wrath is; why it is a necessary aspect of His being as God, and thus be less hesitant to affirm it, speak of it, or explain it to others.

To the end that we might worship God as He is and must ever be, Pastor Jeff

Christmas Thoughts

Greetings All,

     Since we're so close to Christmas (and I know I won't have time to send a thought next Tuesday) I decided to send some of my favorite collected 'thoughts' regarding Christmas.

     I do want to wish you all the best for the holiday season and pray that a midst the busyness and preparations and gift buying and wrapping you'll be able to keep your heart centered on that which is most important -- the miracle of the incarnation we celebrate, or the miracle that is Jesus. As the well-known Christmas carol admonishes us, "Come let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord." Enjoy.

     "...God descends to re-ascend... He comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity. Down to the very roots and sea-bed of the nature He has created. But He goes down to come up again, and bring the ruined world up with Him. One has the picture of a strong man stooping lower and lower, to get himself underneath some great complicated burden. He must stoop in order to lift, He must almost disappear under the load before He incredibly straightens his back and marches off with the whole mass swaying on His shoulders."    C. S. Lewis

     "Let this Christmas season be a renewing of the mind of Christ in our thinking, and a cleansing of our lives by His pure presence. Let His joy come to our weary world through us."  Gerald Kennedy

     "The fact of Jesus' coming is the final and unanswerable proof that God cares."  William Barclay

     "It is here, in the thing that happened at the first Christmas, that the most profound unfathomable depths of the Christian revelation lie. God became man;... the Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than lie and stare and wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as this truth of the incarnation."  J. I. Packer 

     "Christmas can be a difficult time for those who carry the burden of hard work, stressful family situations, and personal loss. But we should remember that Christ came into our world to lift up all who are bowed down... 'To proclaim that captives will be released...' (Luke 4:18).  Jesus came to lift our burdens so we can raise our eyes to welcome Him at Christmas."  David McCasland

     "The purpose and cause of the incarnation was that He might illuminate the world with His wisdom and excite it to the love of Himself."   Peter Abelard

     "The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God."  C. S. Lewis

"Take Christ out of Christmas, and December becomes the bleakest and most colorless month of the year."  A. F. Wells

     "This is Christmas: not the tinsel, not the giving and receiving, not even the carols, but the humble heart that receives anew the wondrous gift, the Christ."  Frank McKibben

     "This Advent we look to the wise men to teach us where to focus our attention.  We set our sights on things above, where God is.  We draw closer to Jesus... [And] When our journey ends and we reach the place where Jesus resides in Bethlehem, may we, like the Wise Men, fall on our knees and adore Him as our true and only King."  Mark Zimmermann

     "For the great and powerful of this world, there are only two places in which their courage fails them, of which they are afraid deep down in their souls, from which they shy away. These are the manger and the cross of Jesus Christ. No powerful person dares approach the manger, and this even includes King Herod.  For this is where thrones shake, the mighty fall, the prominent perish, because God is with the lowly.  Here the rich come to nothing, because God is with the poor and the hungry, but the rich and the satisfied He sends away empty. Before Mary, the maid, before the manger of Christ, before God in lowliness, the powerful come to naught; they have no right, no hope, they are judged."  Dietrich Bonhoeffer 

     "The hinge of history is on the door of a Bethlehem stable."   Ralph W. Sockman

     Many advocate dropping the name "Christmas" and instead using the phrase "The Holiday Season." But such a tactic still fails to bring about its intended end.  For the word "holiday" is a compound word that comes from the two words,  "holy" and "day."

     So that's fine with me. It is a "holy day."  A day dedicated to God and set apart for a sacred purpose.  It gives me an even better opportunity to share, and opens the door for me to explain what makes it holy.  I plan to take advantage of each one!   I trust you will too.

With warmest regards and earnest prayers that you may enjoy a Christ-centered, Christ-filled and thus joyous celebration of the day, Pastor Jeff

Truth

Greetings All, 

     This week's thought comes from one of my favorite authors -- J. I. Packer.  It is found in his classic work, Knowing God.  Not that copies sold guarantees good content, but it has sold more than three million copies worldwide and is considered by many to be a book that should be a reference book on the shelf of every serious Christian. In fact, if you are looking for a book to use for a discipleship class for new believers, or a discussion group for Christians of any age or maturity level, this one should be high on the list.  It is filled with tremendously helpful insights into the Gospel and Christian living.

     Today's thought has to do with truth. But not just truth as "brute objective facts."  It has to do with truth as a revelation of the person of God. It speaks of how truth is personal (better yet, how truth is a Person -- as Jesus reminded us when He said, "I AM the truth..." ). And it shows how truth heeded brings immense benfits into people's lives.  I found it a good reminder.  I trust you will as well.  Enjoy.

      "Truth in the Bible is a quality of persons primarily, and of propositions only secondarily.  It means stability, reliability, firmness, trustworthiness, the quality of a person who is entirely self-consistent, sincere, realistic, undeceived.  God is such a person: truth, in this sense, is his nature, and he has not got it in him to be anything else. 

       That is why he cannot lie (Tit 1:2; Num 23:19; I Sam 15:29; Heb. 6:18).  That is why his words to us are true, and cannot be other than true.  They are the index of reality. They show us things as they really are, and as they will be for us in the future, depending on whether we heed God's words to us or not...

       Psalm 119:151 says, 'All your commands are true.'  Why are they so described?  First, because they have stability and permanence as setting forth what God wants to see in human lives in every age.  And second, because they tell us the unchanging truth about our own nature. For this is the purpose of God's law: it gives us a working definition of true humanity. It shows us what we were made to be, teaches us how to be truly human, and warns us against moral self-destruction. This is a matter of great importance, and one which calls for much consideration at the present time.

      We are familiar with the thought that our bodies are like machines, needing the right routine of food, rest and exercise if they are to run efficiently, and liable, if filled up with the wrong fuel -- alcohol, drugs, poison -- to lose their power of healthy functioning and ultimately to 'seize up' entirely in physical death. 

      What we are slower to grasp is that God wishes us to think of our souls in a similar way.  As rational persons, we were made to bear God's moral image--that is, our souls were made to 'run' on the practice of worship, law-keeping, truthfulness, honesty, discipline, self-control, and service to God and our fellow human beings.  If we abandon these practices, not only do we incur guilt before God; we also progressively destroy our own souls. Conscience atrophies, the sense of shame dries up, one's capacity for truthfulness, loyalty and honesty is eaten away, and one's character disintegrates. One not only becomes desperately miserable; one is steadily being dehumanized.  This is one aspect of spiritual death. 

      Richard Baxter was right to formulate the alternatives as 'A Saint or a Brute.'  That, ultimately, is the only choice, and everyone, sooner or later, consciously or unconsciously opts for one or the other.  Nowadays some will maintain, in the name of humanism, that the 'Puritan' sexual morality of the Bible is contrary to the attainment of true human maturity, and that a little more license makes for richer living.  Of this ideology we would only say that the proper name for it is not humanism, but brutism.  Sexual laxity does not make you more human, but less so.  It brutalizes you and tears your soul to pieces.  The same is true wherever any of God's commandments are disregarded.  We are only living truly human lives just so far as we are laboring to keep God's commandments; and no further."   

      Much of our culture's 'live for the moment, run on your feelings, indulge every pleasure, give in to every urge, and focus on the sensual instead of the eternal' has led to damaged souls, personal frustration, disillusionment, broken homes and marriages, and dysfunction in all levels of society.  We have forgotten (or chosen to ignore the fact) that order, and limits, and consistency, and virtue, and self-humbling worship, and self-discipline, and self-restraint are 'exercises' the soul needs to be trained in in order to be healthy and strong and weather the storms of life. And because they are so neccessary to health in life and society, it should come as no surprise that the Bible -- which encourages them all -- should do so.

   

      Packer is right.  People almost universally seem to know the routines needed to keep their bodies healthy and fit -- as if that were the most important thing. Yet they so often fail to apply those same principles to the soul.  We take so much care of the temporal, the decaying, and that which will pass away, and tend to ignore (to a large extent) the things most valuable and eternal.

     In the long run (in the light of eternity) it would be far wiser for us to train the eternal soul to be fit and godly, than to train the perishable body to have a mere decade or more of slightly better mobility and a little more energy.  Quality of life in this life has all but replaced the Christian emphasis on preparation for eternal life.  

     But, of course, such a change in priority and the paradigm shift it requires, would mean really believing that the things eternal and invisible far outweigh the things temporal and visible -- and that would require a radical counter-culture stance in nearly every way.  Hopefully, though, care for what matters most will win out, and you will make the necessary changes regardless of being counted in the minority when you do. It will never be otherwise, for narrow is the way that leads to life, and wide is the way that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13).  

With concern for what really matters,  Pastor Jeff

In Times of Struggle

Greetings All,

This week's 'thought' comes from a book by J. I. Packer, entitled "A Grief Sanctified - Passing Through Grief to Peace and Joy." It deals with the Puritan Richard Baxter and his grief at the loss of his earthly love - his wife Margaret.

Though 20 years younger than Baxter, she was converted through his preaching, became his bride on April 29, 1662, worked tirelessly with him in the ministry at Kidderminster, England, and died 19 years later on June 14, 1681 at the age of 45. (He was 65 years old when she passed and survived her by another 10 years.) Our 'thought' is actually a "covenant" she wrote in poetic form just before her death, pledging herself once again unreservedly to God (as she had done at her conversion).

Since committing ourselves to God is something we need all do, and revisit, or reaffirm at various times of spiritual struggle, I felt it may be a reminder for all to take a moment to do the same (remembering as you do the point she so poignantly makes in the third stanza - whatever you hold back from Him you lose, and whatever you are willing to lose for Him you save). Enjoy.

"My whole though broken heart, O Lord,

From henceforth shall be Thine,

And here I do my vow record:

This hand, these words are mine.

All that I have, without reserve,

I offer here to Thee;

Thy will and honor all shall serve,

That Thou bestow'dst on me.

All my exceptions saved I lose;

All that I lose I save:

The treasure of Thy love I choose,

And Thou art all I crave.

My God, Thou hast my heart and hand;

I all to Thee resign.

I'll ever to this covenant stand,

Though flesh hereat repine.

I know that Thou wast willing first,

And then made me consent,
Having thus loved me at the worst,

Thou wilt not now repent.

Now I have quit all self-pretense,

Take charge of what's Thine own.
My life, my health, and my defense,

Now lie on Thee alone.

Christ leads me through no darker rooms

Than He went through before;

He that into God's kingdom comes

Must enter by this door.

Come, Lord, when grace hath made me meet

Thy blessed face to see;

For if Thy work on earth be sweet,

What will Thy glory be?

Then I shall end my sad complaints,

And weary sin full days,

And join with the triumphant saints

That sing Jehovah's praise.

My knowledge of that life is small;

The eye of faith is dim:

But it's enough that Christ knows all,

And I shall be with him."

What are you going through? What struggles are you facing? Sickness? Hardship? Financial loss? The loss of a dearly loved one? The possible loss of your own life? They are all times where we need to recommit ourselves unreservedly to following the Christ who "loved us at our worst," and "will not now repent" (stanza 5). He will not turn away from loving us. Let us not, by the grace He gives, turn away from loving Him.

In the Bonds of Christian Service,
Pastor Jeff

He'll Complete his Work

Greetings All,

Today's 'thought' comes from J. I. Packer is his book "Hot Tub Religion" which strives to show that contrary to what is said from many American pulpits in particular, God's primary purpose and aim for our lives is not to make them easy, comfortable, prosperous and painless. But rather, as the apostle Paul points out in I Thess. 4:3, "The will of God for you is this; that you should be sanctified."

Knowing that's God's goal and aim for us helps us understand how and why many things we may not ask for, enjoy or ever want, end up coming into our lives. God not only wants us to be sanctified (or holy), but works providentially to order the affairs of our lives in such a way that they work toward bringing about that ultimate goal.

God is faithful and because He is faithful He will unfailingly continue and eventually complete the work He has begun in us (Phil. 1:6). As we begin the New Year I thought it would be good for us to be reminded of that once again. I trust you will find Packer's words helpful and insightful. Enjoy.

"God is saving a great company of sinners. He has been engaged in this task since history began. He spent many centuries preparing a people, and a setting of world history, for the coming of his Son. Then he sent his Son into the world in order that there might be a gospel, and now he sends his gospel throughout the world in order that there may be a Church. He has exalted his Son to the throne of the universe, and Christ from his throne now invites sinners to himself. He keeps them, leads them, and finally brings them to be with him in his glory.

God is saving men and women through his Son. First he justifies and adopts them into his family for Christ's sake as soon as they believe, and thus restores the relationship between them and himself that sin had broken. Then within that restored relationship, God continually works in and upon them to renew them in the image of Christ, so that the family likeness (if the phrase may be allowed) shall appear in them more and more.

It is this renewal of ourselves, progressive here and to be perfected hereafter, that Paul identifies with the 'good' when he writes, 'in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose' (Romans 8:28). God's purpose, as Paul explains, is that those whom God has chosen and in love has called to himself should, 'be the firstborn among many brothers' (Romans 8:29). All God's ordering of circumstances, Paul tells us, is designed for the fulfillment of this purpose. The 'good' for which all things work is not the immediate ease and comfort of God's children (as is, one fears, too often supposed), but their ultimate holiness and conformity to the likeness of Christ.

Does this help us to understand how adverse circumstances may find a place in God's plan for his people? Certainly! It throws a flood of light upon the problem, as the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews demonstrates. To Christians who had grown disheartened and apathetic under the pressure of constant hardship and victimization, we find him writing: 'Have you forgotten the exhortation which addresses you as sons? - My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage when you are punished by him. For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves, and chastizes every son whom he receives... He disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yeilds the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it' (Hebrews 12:5-11).

It is striking to see how this writer, like Paul, equates the Christian's 'good' not with ease and quiet, but with sanctification. The passage is so plain it needs no comment, only frequent rereading whenever we find it hard to believe that the rough handling that circumstances (or our fellow Christians) are giving us can possibly be God's will."

Dr. Jeffrey F. Evans