“Now may the God of peace . . . make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen” (Hebrews 13:20,21).
THERE IS NOTHING INDIFFERENT ABOUT GOD’S ATTITUDE TOWARD US. We are creatures brought into being by His love, and when a way for us to be redeemed could only be purchased by the life of His Son, He did not stop short of making that sacrifice. The question of our well-being is one in which He has a vested interest, to say the least. He is for us. He is on our side. He is passionately biased in our favor. There is nothing good for us in this whole wide world that He is not eager and able to provide.
There is a sense in which God is eager to do good for every person He has created, even those who show no respect for Him. Jesus said that “He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).
There is also a sense in which He cares for those who have obeyed the gospel of His Son and who have remained faithful to Him. It is to obedient Christians that Peter wrote, “Let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator” (1 Peter 4:19). “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,” he continued, “. . . casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6,7).
But there is a third point that must be made: even when it is God’s faithful saints who are under consideration, the needs that He is most eager to supply are those relating to His rule. When Paul made his familiar statement in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” he was not speaking of goals like making a million dollars or winning an Olympic gold medal. He was stating his confidence that Christ wouldn’t let him go without anything he needed to do His, that is, Christ’s, work.
Whatever God expects us to do to accomplish His purposes, He will help us to do. And help in doing those things is what we ought to desire, far more than we desire His help with lesser concerns. In anything related to the gospel of Christ, we needn’t worry about coming up short. He will “make [us] complete in every good work to do His will, working in [us] what is well pleasing in His sight.”
“God eagerly awaits the chance to bless the person whose heart is turned toward Him” (Anonymous).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
