He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Now, I am not necessarily just dealing with this verse in this entry but more an attitude that you could get from this verse and some others like it in Scripture. I heard someone say at a Sunday school class something along the lines of: We as God's children should expect to receive all of the same material blessings as the non-believers we see around us. Or, the "name it & claim it" movement out there- that God will bless us with everything we want if we only have the faith to believe God for it.
Unfortunately, this interpretation doesn't at all add up with Scripture and especially the New Testament. First off, Romans 8 doesn't deal with physical stuff at all; it talks about spiritual things and our relationship with Christ. Think also about who wrote Romans- it was Paul who talks about being content in all circumstances, being persecuted and considering worldly things rubbish compared to knowing Christ. So surely he didn't mean that God will give us everything we want materially or physically.
We can see so many of God's people who lived in a way that would be considered foolish to today's American. Jesus, Paul, the apostles, etc. weren't concerned with things like money or material possessions, but instead realized how much they had in Christ and how God giving us all things means all that we have in Christ, not material things. We are promised that God will meet all of our needs- not give us everything that we want when we want it (materially or otherwise).
I have lately been convicted more and more about how to simplify my life- free myself from things that would distract or even take away time and effort from serving God. For example, I just last year sold a boat that I really wasn't using and replaced it with one that was a lot cheaper and much easier to maintain. I am also pretty sure that I'll be consolidating down to one car, just because of how unnecessary a 2nd one is and how much trouble that goes along with it.
So, in closing, God has promised to meet our needs. And, sometimes, He sees fit to bless us beyond our needs so that we may then bless others and show His love to them. He doesn't promise to give us all that we need and those who aren't rich in the world's eyes aren't lacking in faith or aren't second-class Christians. It's God who determines how to gift and bless individual people and He does so according to His perfect plan.
-JRO
4 comments:
Had I been around back then, and Paul had taken advantage of my editing skills, I would have advised him to be more straight forward (or, as they tell us at work, to write on a sixth grade reading level ;) So much of the Bible must be read in context and also with some knowledge of the author. I guess God did that with a purpose - it's not something to read casually but to study and wade through.
Now for a question about this passage: God has promised to meet our needs. What about people who die of hunger or thirst? There are daily examples of people around the world who aren't getting their basic survival needs met, even though God says (Matt. 6:26) "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they?" In fairness, that passage goes on to say (verse 33), "But seek first his kindgdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." I just feel like some of the thousands (or millions) around our world that are starving are probably Christians.
Wow, that's a tough question. I am certainly no expert or wise man when it comes to solving one of life's big mysteries, but I'll take a stab at it.
It is my belief (as I'll be teaching on next Friday btw) that God's ultimate purpose in all that He does is His own glory. So, whether that is creation, election, salvation, providence, etc., God is always seeking to glorify Himself in what He does. So, somehow, because God has allowed sin in the world, even horrible things like hunger can fit into His master plan for the world. Now, I don't for a second claim to understand how it works. It doesn't seem to make sense sometimes.
The other thing to keep in mind I think is that if someone is a believer God has met their ultimate need for Him. Even if we die or lose everything in this world, we will gain the next. So, maybe the things we see as our ultimate needs really aren't that significant from an eternal perspective.
Anyways; I hope this came close to answering your question. It's about the best this finite mind can do!
In response to this comment: The other thing to keep in mind I think is that if someone is a believer God has met their ultimate need for Him. Even if we die or lose everything in this world, we will gain the next. So, maybe the things we see as our ultimate needs really aren't that significant from an eternal perspective.
I'm not sure that can be used as an argument in this instance because in Matthew, Jesus talks specifically about filling the needs of hunger and clothing. He isn't talking about spiritual needs there.
That's true; the context of Matthew 6 is speaking about worry about physical things, like food and clothing. However, a lot of times when Jesus taught, He used a physical reality to get at a spiritual one. So, perhaps that's what He's doing in this case- I really don't know.
The way I look at it is this: God promises in His word to supply our needs and I believe God's word to be true. So, in some cases, the cause of needs not being met is not seeking first God's kingdom. But the troubling thing is figuring out what's going on when people who are seeking God's kingdom don't seem to have their needs met. That's why I tend to think it boils down to what we see as needs. There are a lot of believers who work their butts off just for one day's food and are so much more joyful and content with that than those of us in this country with savings built up.
I guess this is one of those things that we'll never fully understand. However, I would say that one thing we should all realize in relation to this is one of the biggest reasons some people in this world don't have their needs met is that the rest of us are too caught up in our own selfish desires to help out. This country is so prosperous beyond belief yet so few people (Christians included) are truly as generous as they could be. Certainly there's so much more we all could be doing to be the means that God uses to meet someone's need- one less meal out a week, passing on that new thing I want, etc.
Post a Comment