Don’t Miss Out—Sing! Global Begins Today
Beginning today, thousands of believers from around the globe will be gathering online for a three-day immersive virtual experience packed with worship led from six continents, a first-time-ever performance of the upcoming Keith & Kristyn Getty album, exclusive Sing! Global conversations with key leaders in the church, culture, and arts, and talks featuring 100+ Christian speakers, artists, and musicians.
When you register, you’ll receive:
- A free songbook with 52 songs for your church used throughout the event
- Access to the Sing! Global online platform for 365 days to catch up on anything you miss
- Free access to every prior year of Sing! online
- Access to exclusive, interactive q&a sessions with many of our speakers
- Ideas & inspiration for your church or family all year long
Plus, $5 of every ticket goes to fund translations and free distribution of the conference in communities around the world.
Hurry – the conference begins on the afternoon of Monday, September 13. Add your voice in singing and proclaiming that our hope is found in Christ alone!
Register here and use code VIRTUAL10 to save 10% on your registration.
This week the blog is sponsored by Getty Music.
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Life Without Romans 8:28
I have often heard it said that Romans 8:28 is the wrong verse to bring to the attention of those who are grieving, that while it is true in our especially difficult moments, it does not necessarily become helpful until some time has passed. And while I can only speak for myself, it has been my experience that in my lowest moments I have feasted on Romans 8:28, I have run to it like a starving man runs to a meal and I have drunk from it like a parched man drinks from an oasis. I have needed Romans 8:28 and it has both comforted my soul and directed my grief.
The verse says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” It is for good reason that this is one of the most familiar verses in the entire Bible and for good reason that so many have memorized it. And I wonder if you have ever paused to consider a world without Romans 8:28?
Without Romans 8:28 we would not have confidence that our experiences in this world “work … for good.” We might believe that some of what we experience works for harm, that Satan and God are cosmically slugging it out with first one and then the other gaining the upper hand. We might be tempted to believe that some of what we experience works for nothing, that there is an arbitrary element to life in which things happen that have no purpose, no meaning, and no redemption. We might gaze at our sorrows and sufferings and think, “There is no goodness in this and no way goodness could ever come from this.”
Without Romans 8:28 we would not have confidence that “all” things work for good. We might believe that some of the things we experience ultimately work for good while others ultimately work for our harm. Or we might believe that some things work for good while other things are empty and meaningless, black holes in God’s providence.
Without Romans 8:28 we might not see the hand of God working in our suffering, for where things “work together for good,” there must be someone who is working them. Work requires a worker! We might assume, as do so many today, that an impersonal force like the universe is ultimately behind our circumstances. We might even assume that there is no deity and no intelligent being who acts out his providence within this universe, but just cold impersonal fate.
Without Romans 8:28 we might neglect to meditate on the fact that our purpose in this world is to serve God’s purpose—that we have been “called according to his purpose.” We might fail to ponder the truth that if we are called to experience trials it is because God has purposes to accomplish through them and that we can bring glory to him if we meet these trials and pass through them with our faith strong and intact.
Without Romans 8:28 our suffering would be intolerable and we might rightly conclude that our sorrows are meaningless.
But we do have Romans 8:28. God has given it to us a gift of his grace. Of course, we need to exercise good judgment when we bring comfort to God’s people as they suffer. Of course, we need to choose the truth that fits the circumstance. Of course, we need to ensure we are not forcing a harsh or inaccurate interpretation of the passage as so many have done with this verse. But as for me, there are few verses more comforting and more encouraging than this one.
God is working out his good will not despite dark days, difficult trials, and broken hearts, but through them.Share
Because Romans 8:28 exists, those who love God and are loved by him can have confidence that he is working through all of life’s circumstances to bring good out of bad, light out of darkness, joy out of sorrow. It’s not that God is especially agile, a kind of cosmic PR man adept at manipulating circumstances, but rather that he is the Planner, the Engineer, the Designer who has ordained the means just as much as the end. He ordains the calm and the storm, the darkness and the dawn, the famine and the feast. This being the case, no event is meaningless, no situation purposeless, no condition ultimately hopeless. God is working out his good will not despite dark days, difficult trials, and broken hearts, but through them. Such circumstances are the raw material he uses to form and shape his good plans, his perfect purposes.
God’s specialty is not bringing good from good, but good from bad and Romans 8:28 gently tells me that if I trust him through my tears, he will give me reason to laugh; if I trust him through my pain, he will teach me to praise; if I trust him through my grief, he will afterwards show me all the good that came with it and through it. He will show me the precious flowers in the dry desert, the beautiful blooms against the sharp thorns, the gentle petals beneath the vicious skies. For behind every black cloud is a yellow sun, behind every dark night a bright day, behind every frowning providence a smiling face—the smiling face of the God who works all things for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.1 -
A La Carte (November 1)
I’m still in Unalaska, Alaska where the weather refuses to be anything but foggy—so foggy that planes can’t fly. Since there is literally no other way back to the mainland, I will need to wait it out. Thankfully I am well looked after and very grateful for Christian hospitality.
Westminster Books has a deal on a new book that means to help you better understand Reformed theology. You’ll also find good deals on the huge new Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, devotions based on the Shorter Catechism, and more.
I updated the list of deals currently on offer at ChristianBook.com.
Also, don’t forget about my upcoming webinar, Getting the Most Out of Logos.
When Catholicity Leads to Compromise
Jonathan Worsley commends catholicity yet warns that “an over-realized catholicity is potentially poisonous. I caution us all to beware of the following three catholicity-based compromises…”
Dare to Be a Daniel
“Maybe you’ve been exposed to the kind of teaching from the Old Testament that uses its stories to highlight moral examples. Is that kind of teaching bad? Should we do such a thing? Should it be avoided for the sake of christological interpretation?”
Prone to Dechurch, Lord I Feel It
Trevin Wax: “Dechurching doesn’t just happen to us, as if we have no moral agency. Thinking you can pursue the Christian life on your own, apart from a local body of believers, isn’t only wrongheaded; it’s wrong. It’s disobedience to King Jesus. By removing the moral frame of dechurching, we do a disservice to believers who need to be called back into community.”
What Should We Make of the Hypothetical “Q” Source?
Michael Kruger explains and offers his take on the hypothetical “Q” source for the synoptic gospels. “Students of the Gospels will know that there has been a long-standing discussion among scholars about the relationship between the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke). These three Gospels are so similar at so many points (often word for word), that it raises a number of intriguing questions. Did they know each other? Did they use each other?”
Symptoms of A Prayerless Life
Chopo Mwanza lays out some of the common symptoms of a prayerless life.
Preacher, Reformer, & Politian: The Complex Life of Zwingli
Peter Witkowski shares a brief biography of “the passionate, gifted, and yet flawed father of the Swiss reformation.”
Flashback: We Are All Cultists On the Inside
We may pay lip service to diversity, but when it comes down to it we find that our natural instinct is toward uniformity—a uniformity to our own emphases, our own convictions, our own preferences.If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million of enemies. Yet the distance makes no difference; He is praying for me. —Robert Murray McCheyne
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A Prayer for My Parent Heart
It can, at times, be difficult to know what and how to pray for our children and what and how to pray for ourselves as their parents. This is true when they are young but, in my experience, becomes even more prominent as they grow older. This is why it is helpful to have books like Kathleen Nielson’s Prayers of a Parent. In the volume of prayers for adult children, she includes this one which is “For My Parent Heart.” It provides words that every parent can pray for themselves and for the children God has given them.
All I ask you for my child, O Lord,is all you’ve given to me, in Christ;there is no measure of your steadfast lovethat reaches to the heavens;I ask from out of my abundance in knowing you.
In all my asking, let me restin your great love and faithfulness;you are the Father in heavenwho provides a refuge for your childrenin the shadow of your wings;they feast on the abundance of your house;you give them drink from the river of your delights.I pray trusting your provision for my child,for I have tasted just how good is your provision.
My life, and my child’s lifeare not our own, but gifts from you,O God, who are yourself the fountain of life.What grace, that you should give me lifeand let me nurture another, given by you.What most amazing grace,that you should bring life to a soul that’s dead,through your own Son,light of the world, the light of life.
I thank you that you call your children, Lord,to faith in Christ your Son, our Savior,and to a home where we will feast forever, with you.