Dealing with consequences

One of the most often quoted verses of the Bible is Romans 8:28 which says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those that love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” It’s a great verse, offering all sorts of comfort to us in our times of trial.
But unfortunately, it also is often misunderstood and misapplied. Too often we interpret that verse to be a blanket guarantee that “everything is going to work out fine”. God is somehow going to take whatever mess or situation we have managed to get ourselves into and unravel all our mistakes and make things hunky dory again.
But that’s not what the verse promises. The promise that all things will work together for good is conditional to a couple of key elements. One, it is for those that love God. To truly love God is not to have some warm and fuzzy feeling about God from time to time - especially when in distress - but to be obedient to God. It is to mirror the kind of love God has for us - agape love - a self sacrificing love for the things He loves.
Secondly, the promise is conditional to them that are called according to His purpose. If we love God, we will keep His commandments (obedience) and we will do the will of God. If we’re doing the will of God then God says He will cause it to work together for good. If we’re doing our will, then there isn’t that sort of guarantee. If I resolutely put my will above God’s will, then I can’t expect God to undo all that I have done. I may pay the price for my willfulness.
For instance, there are a lot of Christians out there spending time in prison due to some willful desire that they put above God’s will. There are a lot of divorcees and their children out there paying the price of breaking their marriage vows. There are a lot of Christians out there paying the price of addiction to substance abuse because of feeding their fleshly appetites.
That’s why Paul sternly warns the Corinthian church in 2 Cor. 13: 5, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?” We need to guard against the flesh everyday. It isn’t dead, it’s just supposed to be submitted to the Spirit. But we can let it have the upper hand any time we want. And when we find ourselves serving the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life again, then we put ourselves out of the will of God and consequently, the protection of God.
By the way, we’re still meeting on the beach on Sundays until mid October. Come out and worship with us this week and enjoy viewing the waves from Hurricane Igor.