The Good Of The Father

 

Now we are aware that God is working all together for the good of those who are loving God, who are called according to the purpose 

Paul to the Romans 8: 28, Concordant New Testament 

I read the words of Paul written in Romans 8:28 and I immediately began to think of the good things in my own life.  These is the carryover beliefs from my time in the mainstream church.  The church would have us believe that Paul was referring to the Father showering His children with good in this passage.  That if we believe in and follow God He will reward us in our lives.  But is this what Paul was referring to?  Is it the Lords intent that all will be good in our lives if we simply believe in Him?  As I've said, this is what I was brought up to believe about God.  That if I simply believe in Him I would be rewarded in my own life.  Well, this belief is also what brought me to question not only if God existed, but if He really cared for me at all.  Before my mother passed, I prayed for the Lord to heal her from her infirmities.  I believed that the Father would "Work all together for the good" in this situation.  Meaning, I believed that all would be ok and that my mother would be restored to health.  When this didn't happen, I began to question whether God heard my request or if He even was concerned.  I presented my requests to Him, and in my way of thinking God did not honor those requests.  What good is God if He is not honest in what He proclaims?  Was this the good of God?  Oddly enough, my answer to this question came as I thought over what I had prayed for.  One of my prayers was that my mother would be free of the pain she had been in for so long.  The realization that she was now free of the pain of her sickness opened my heart to what the Father had been accomplishing through all of this.  It wasn't about me at all.  But this is how I had been brought up to view God in my life.  As believers we all too often get stuck on how God rewards His followers and makes their lives better.  When that doesn't come to pass we end up questioning Him and His motives.  In the end, I believe that we interpret good very different from how the Father intended.  

Now this is eonian life that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Him Whom thou dost commission, Jesus Christ

Johns Account 17: 3, Concordant New Testament 

Is it possible to know the salvation of the Lord?  Growing up, I was led to believe that salvation was my eternal life in heaven.  That if I believed in God not only would He reward me in my life, but reward me with my salvation as well.  But all it takes is what we perceive as one unanswered prayer and we immediately start to doubt God.  We began to question His promises.  I've been in that situation a few times myself.  But seeing God through the perspective of mainstream church theology is not seeing the truth of the Father.  The church will teach us that salvation is the gift of God, and in that they are correct.  But does salvation revolve around the idea of eternal life?  Is this what God intended?  Jesus speaks to something different entirely.  It is Jesus who speaks to eternal life as knowing the Father {Johns Account 17:3}.  I believe that this is the "Good" which Paul speaks to in Romans 8.  For the desire of the Father is the same as the desire of any earthly parent, that He be known by His children.  Therefore, God has been working all for the good in those who are loving Him.  It is the Father who is becoming known by His children.  Let me just say that knowing God and "knowing of" Him are two entirely different ideas.  Through the mainstream church we come to know OF God.  Yet many believers still do not know Him personally.  Jesus tells us that as children of the Father that we live in union with Himself and God {Johns Account 14:20}.  Unfortunately, many believers still do not recognize this truth.  This does not mean it's not true, just that we don't yet perceive it in ourselves.  How is it that God will be known?  Through those who truly know Him already.  It will be through these believers that God will be known.  So it is that He continues to work all together for the good.  

~Scott~