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For Those Who Love 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.  Romans 8:28. 
    You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You because he trusts in you.  Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. Isaiah 26:3-4.
             For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:11-13.
These verses tell us the beauty of trusting in the Lord God! And keeping our eyes on Jesus, God’s Only Son, at all times.  When things are going well for us, we forget the power of God and the way He makes good things happen for us.  We forget the peace we have in Jesus, and we forget to seek for Him with all our hearts. 
         When things in the world are less than perfect, and we think we are the only ones who have ever had to follow constrictive laws during a crisis.  Reading the beginning paragraph my Mother wrote about, describes the memory of the impact of an Influenza Epidemic in 1928 on her usual Christmas celebration.
         We cannot understand each happening in the world, yet reading I Peter 3:10-11, this morning, I understood how God works things together for good that love Him.
“For Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.”  I Peter 3:10-11.
         Peter, the disciple, witnessed the Transfiguration on the mountain when the face of Jesus shone like the sun, and Moses and Elijah came and talked with Jesus.  (Matthew 17:1-3) He saw the many miracles of Jesus, and yet, when Jesus is arrested before his crucifixion, Peter denied Jesus three times.        
         Is this the end of the story? No. He begins to teach and quoted Psalm 34:11-14.  Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
         King David wrote these words while seeking the Lord years before.
God is faithful and watches over those who praise Him and love Him. From the beginning.  In the beginning, God, and choosing God, there is life.
       I never realized how important or how meaningful the word ‘good’ is as a child.  How often I heard – ‘Be good!’ from my parents growing up.  No one ever explained what ‘good’ is.  Now I know in part.  Being good is being like Christ Jesus.
       Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Colossians 3:12-13.
         Impossible to achieve? Not when we walk with the Lord each moment and keep our eyes on Jesus.  In John 13, Jesus washes the feet of His disciples. Peter wonders if Jesus would wash his feet, Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” John 13:7.
            We don’t understand many happenings in our lives, and the why of situations now, but they will work together for our good.  How can we be sure we are on the right pathway in life? 
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:33-34.
What is good in our lives? God IS.  He doesn’t change.  We see changes in our lives; we ‘defriend’ those we once were close to and we are afraid of many things.
Why can’t things just stay the same, we wonder?  There are some things that do not change. The sun still rises and sets, the stars still shine at night, seasons come and go. It rains, it snows, and then the warmth of the sun warms the earth. Seeds still sprout and grow. The birds sing on the wing, squirrel dart here and there, looking for food. Flowers bloom and fill the air with a sweet scent. Babies are born in love, couples marry, and lives end.
What do these all these things have in common? They are part of God’s creation long ago.
“It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty, I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”  Revelation 21:6-7.
                  For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” Romans 1:16-17.
         The beginning verse, Romans 8:28, those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose… is a Promise, of certainty, not an explanation for happenings in life. Only God can fit the pieces of our lives together and make it good.   

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