The Good Of The Father (Knowing His Presence)

 

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 was listening the other day to a radio sermon from a local pastor who was speaking on the barriers each of us encounter in life.  He listed such barriers as racism, sexism and a few other things which many have taken to describing the imperfections of life.  For much of my life, I've been keenly aware that my physical condition and health affected the way others around me looked at me.  Inevitably, this would lead me down the road to more depression and self doubt.  It was truly a vicious cycle.  I began to blame my bad health for many of the bad things in my life.  Sound familiar?  Through pornography, I found temporary acceptance, but it was a false idol.  As it was, those things I saw as barriers in my life were nothing more than distractions of who I truly was.  I was not a sinner saved by grace or a lost sheep searching for God.  I knew who God was, the issue is that until that point I had never experienced being "In God."  The radio padre spoke to the barriers in our life as distractions to knowing the Lord, and with that I agree.  However, it goes much deeper than that.  Knowing about God is much different than actually knowing Him.  Far too many believers spend a lot of time reading scriptures in an effort to know more about God.  These might be the same people who blame those barriers in their lives for the condition they find themselves in.  Believing that things such as racism have been instituted from the Lord.  Now, while it is true that God ALLOWED the existence of the racist attitudes of certain people, I believe that He was not responsible for creating it.  This was mans creation all the way.  From the moment that Cane rose up against his brother Abel in anger and jealousy, man has sought to place labels on one another {Genesis 4:8}.  Again, this is something which the Father allowed to happen.  Cane and Able surely knew of the Father through their parents.  They surely heard of their life in the garden before succumbing to the lie of the deceiver {Genesis 3:1-6}.  Adam and Eve lived their life in the Fathers presence in the garden.  They never learned of such things as hate, jealousy and anger.  These all came about after Satans deception.  

"These things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have affliction.  But courage!  I have conquered the world"

Johns Account 16: 33, Concordant New Testament 

Many have tossed about the phrase "Mans inhumanity to man" when describing the destructive behaviors which we exhibit towards one another.  Were such people living in the presence and knowledge of the Father?  I doubt it.  Which begs the question, what is it like to live in the knowledge of the Father?  Well, it is Jesus Himself who speaks to our union in the Father {Johns Account 14:20}.  To live in the knowledge of the Father is to live knowing that we have never been separated or distanced from Him.  That God is an intimate part of who we are and all we will ever do.  Jesus has spoken that there will indeed be barriers in our lives {Johns Account 16:33}.  However, our focus should not be on those barriers, but on the Father.  In the Father we know that our future is secure in Him.  That our lives are but a moment in time.  That no matter who is against us, in the Father we are secure {Paul to the Romans 8:31}.  Living in the Father is also knowing that we will indeed experience the pitfalls of life in this world.  Bu that does not define who we are.  We are not defined by racism, sexism or the like, but by God in Whom we share our being {Acts of the Apostles 17:28}.  The good of the Father is knowing that we live each and every day in Him. 

~Scott~