Consider this

“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). The first thing to notice here is that “God works” – today! It is one thing to believe that God did something in the past (creation, sending his Son). It is another thing to believe that he will do something in the future (Christ’s return, Heaven). It is essential, though, to believe that he is doing something now. Without that belief, all we have to work with are our own skills, knowledge and best efforts. However, if God is involved in my life on a daily basis, maybe there is power and hope, even when I do not see or understand everything at this moment. That leads to the second important statement and that is that things will be “good”. Notice that the verse does not say, “God will work to make you happy”. The truth is that God works for my “good” even when it does not like “good” to me. Parents understand this principle. You do no...

We make a huge mistake when we read the Bible in the same way that we read a newspaper. Newspapers give you as much information as they can “up front”. In other words, they give you a big headline and then spend a few paragraphs giving you the facts of the story. In the first few sentences of the article, you get a majority of the important information. On the other hand, in a novel or a story the most important information is held until the very end. You do not know all that you need to know unless you read right to the last page. With that in mind, it is important for us to remember that the Bible is more “story” than “newspaper”. The Bible contains a lot of facts, but they are sprinkled throughout the story. As the gospel of Luke closes, we come across the most important parts of his message: the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. We need to keep reading, though, because the second last verse in the book contains one of the most important details of all. “When he ha...

For the past 18 months, I have been preaching through the gospel of Luke on Sunday mornings, so when that ended, I wondered, “Where do I go now?” The answer, I decided, was the little letter of “First John”. First John was written to a group of Christians who knew the gospel well. In fact, John spends very little time reviewing the details of the past. Instead, he focuses on the response of the people. In other words, First John has a lot to say about “How we live because of what we know” and it starts in the first four verses of the book. After a briefly sketching the coming of Christ, he goes on to say, “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete” (1 John 1:3-4). Notice the message that John wants to proclaim; he wants them to hear about “fellowship”. Fellowship is not the word I would expect to see there. I would hav...

The Eiffel Tower is interesting to me. Over the years, I have read about it, watched a couple of documentaries about its construction and I have even spent some time on “Google Maps” trying to understand where it is in relation to other things in Paris. I can tell you that it was built by an engineer named Gustave Eiffel. The tower served as was the entrance arch for the 1889 World's Fair and at a height of 324 m (1,063 ft – approximately the height of an 81-story building) it is the tallest structure in Paris. You probably know that it was not meant to be permanent (the original building permit called for it to be taken down after 20 years), but its usefulness as a communications tower saved it until it became the symbol of Paris that it is today. While I can tell you lots about the Eiffel Tower, it is a completely different thing to talk to someone who can say, “When we were there…” The subject is the same, but the content is different when you speak to someone who has expe...