We praise God for what He has done for us but we worship God for who He is. We tend to be thankful to God for the tangible interventions and blessings of this life, but seldom take the time to come before God’s throne in thankfulness for the unchanging things that are settled in heaven: That we are in Christ, in the Beloved, that we can come boldly to His throne of super-abounding grace, that He will never, ever, ever leave us or forsake us, that He is faithful even when we are unfaithful... loving us unconditionally, eternally and without prejudice. God loves us too much to leave us as we are, no matter how good we look to ourselves... no matter how much we whine, He is constantly, passionately willing and working to manifest Christ in us... our hope of Glory! He always gives us good gifts because He gives us what we need, not what we want, and works out all things together for good in accordance with His divine purpose, our perfection. Think about that for a moment: God’s good is quite different than the human kind, not merely physical and temporal, but purposeful within His divine will... provoking transformation in us, and it has an eternal warranty attached... an eternal weight of glory. Behind, under, beside, above, in and through human free agency runs God’s sovereignty. All “things”, blessings, adversity... the good and bad “things” of life, are within His purposes. The God of All is personally orchestrating every circumstance, every detail in our life to bring about His purpose, not ours, allowing in His wisdom what He could easily prevent in His power... making us into His jewels. Monetary light afflictions, the difficulties encountered along the way, are but the predestined rendering of our nature into the derived likeness of His nature, perfecting us in preparation for forever with the Perfect One. When Jesus commanded, “You must be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48; Moffatt’s trans.), He was having a very serious moment. His truth penetrates the callus of our heart, truth that sometimes makes love hurt. If God heals our diseased body we have only gained a tiny sliver of time – we will still die. But when He seated us in the heavenlies with the Son of His love, when He said”This one is Mine” – that’s eternal. That’s now until forever! That’s something to shout about!
PREDESTINED TO BE PERFECT
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