Faith Shaped

In this chapter, Ian Hamilton breaks down the importance of truly understanding this truth from God: And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.  From Roman 8:28

Paul starts this verse off with this imperative. WE KNOW.  Can we believers truly say this?  How can Paul, the midst of life’s uncertainties, say this with such clarity and forthrightness?   WE KNOW.

Well, who is the we… those who love God AND are called according to his purpose.  It’s a two parter eh?   The love and the calling. First There we are, the people of God, the people that love God.  Not a person all on their own, but a person united with others so we become a WE.   We have a love for God that holds us together but we also have a calling.  A calling to do God’s purposes.  With that love comes a knowledge that God will work all things in our life together for good.

Do you see how they fit together?

The love we have for God calling us to a unity.  

God’s love evidenced in our lives.  He called us to be his own.  He predestined us to love him and to be mindful of him and he calls us his own.  In the calling he works everything that happens in our lives for good. 

It doesn’t say that he works everything out for OUR good, but that he works everything out FOR good. Remember how we are a WE?  So the struggles that we go through… a job to find, a death of a child, temptations, devastation, death, and such like.  We, including the individual me and I, but we, who are loved by God, who love God and are called according to his purposes.  He works it all for the good. 

Isn’t that just the greatest comfort?

Paul’s assurance that we KNOW this.  That we know God’s calls us according to his purposes and that he works out everything single thing that happens in our lives FOR GOOD.  He does.  It’s just a regular fact in our lives as believers.  So confident he is that we know this thing.

The miscarriages I’ve had helped me reach out to a gal who went through a miscarriage, losses of animals held dear to my heart help me understand pet loss in others, raising a child (something not always so easy) helps me reach out to other moms.  It doesn’t always directly benefit me, but it does benefit the kingdom of God.  And THAT, that is a very good thing.

What hard things have happened in YOUR life that have turned out for good?  

 

Ian Hamilton brings this question to us… do we unabashedly love the Saviour?

I read through this chapter and I was brought to mind a gal from one of the local churches.  She came to faith late in life and her love for the Lord is abundantly clear in every single conversation I have with her.  

And here I have to admit a failing, particularly after I read this chapter.  I’ve always attributed that love to “newborn Christian” she’ll settle down soon.

But in this chapter, Mr. Hamilton makes it clear that we need to cultivate that kind of Love for our Lord and Saviour daily.   To be so in love with the Lord that everyone around us knows it. 

Like when a young couple is in love.. EVERYONE knows it.  They do.  The snuggling, hand-holding, the constant chattering about their loved one. 

Can we be more ardent and less self-conscious in our love for the Lord? Have we lost to sense of wonder in what the Lord has done for us?

Can we be more ardent and less self-conscious in our love for the Lord? Have we lost to sense of wonder in what the Lord has done for us? Share on X

Consider the woman from Luke 7 who, through tears, poured perfume over Jesus’ feet.  So in love with the Lord that she used perfume on her feet, crying as she did so.  Jesus’ response? “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much.”  Her love for him, so apparent, her freedom from sin, so new.   Do we see our sin and what Christ has done for us?

Does our love for him reflect his love for us?

This question really makes me think, realizing how quietly settled in my faith I’ve become.  NOT THAT A Settled love is a bad thing…but Christ wants our lavishly poured out love you know?  He calls us to love him more than anything, so what does that look like?

Does that look like a quiet love, one of acknowledgement and silent faith or does it look like the joyful love of this lady I know?   How can I turn my love of the Lord, who I’ve known since I was wee young, into that joyful exuberant love?   God calls me to love him “more than these”.   If I can tell my sweetheart a quiet “I love you” every single day… can’t I do the same with my Lord?

If I don’t care who knows that I love my man, shouldn’t I have the same attitude toward God?  Shouldn’t I be able to freely talk about the Lord (and the things of the Lord) as freely as I talk about my fellow or my son or GASP… my bunnies?  I fear too often I fail to do this.  I fail to be exuberant in my faith… and God calls me to more.

How do you manage?   Are you able to be exuberant in your faith?   How do you cultivate that mindset?  How do you show that you love the Saviour?