You can look up this, or any other passage here: http://www.biblegateway.com/ 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. Romans 8:28
Yesterday I made the following statement:
God's will is that things would go well for us; our will leads us astray.
If we will turn back to Him, He will work things for our good.
It was perhaps irresponsible on my part to leave it at that. My intention was to continue the thought today, which I will, but I should have stated "more to follow".
I received three responses that showed concern about that statement; one worried that I was encouraging works over faith (if we will...), the second, that I was saying bad things won't happen to us if we keep turned toward God (things would go well for us...). The third I will address tomorrow. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts!
I so appreciate thinking believers! It is dangerous to take anything written by man without filtering it through the Word. I do not disagree with the essence of the replies I received, so this is not argumentative or a debate, let me just address those thoughts.
1) Salvation is of course a free gift which we cannot earn by our own merit: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. (Eph. 2:8-9)
I think it is worthwhile to discuss "works" requirements after salvation, but that is for another time!
There are some things that we must do, they are actions, but not works...and I don't want to argue over semantics, you can choose another word if you like, But we must accept, we must believe, we must love God, and we must repent. I do not see these as works, but they are requirements we must fulfill...not works, not merit, and not earning...but things to be done. ...God works for the good of those who love Him....whosoever believeth in Him...unless you repent, you too will all perish...these are words directly from Scripture, from an apostle and from Christ Himself. This is not an argument, at all, for works salvation, maybe for attitude alignment?
2) As for "things going well", consider this: Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. (Coll.3:2) Certainly, Christians are not guaranteed a life where things go well by earthly standards; Jim Elliot and his mission team were slaughtered; Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged, Stephen was stoned, and they beat and Crucified our Lord. When God works things for good, I believe the implication is that they are "good" from an eternal perspective. Things may or may not go well here, but that does not change the truth of this verse. And I think we are in agreement. ("We" being me and the guy who wrote the letter...I hope you too!)
More to follow...!
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Questions:
1. What do you think?
2. I'm not sure I worded it well, how would you state the "works" or "actions" I described?
OTHER'S THOUGHTS
"We are told in scripture that with God all things are possible. But Lewis states that this does not mean that God can do anything. God cannot, for example, answer nonsensical questions.He cannot do both of two mutually exclusive things; for example, He cannot create creatures with free will and at the same time withhold free will from them."Armand M. Nicholi
"Grace is the free, undeserved goodness and favor of God to mankind."Matthew Henry
"Either sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the Lamb of God. Now if it is lying on your back, you are lost; but if it is resting on Christ, you are free, and you will be saved. Now choose what you want."Martin Luther
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