And We Know… Not, Without a Change of Heart!
Romans 8:28-30 And we know (true even if we don’t know) that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
Predestined… God has a plan! (For God so loved the world)
Called… God has a desire! (that the world might be saved through Him)
Justified… Not judged! (For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world)
Glorified… God has a goal! (but that the world might be saved through Him.)
How can we NOT KNOW?
I’ve been wondering this lately and definitely walking a fine line between judging and trying to understand why some “get it” and some don’t.
What makes the difference in a soul that sings with joy when God is in the room (where two or more are gathered in His name – there He is) and the soul that only wishes to escape His presence in their life? If God wishes for none to perish but for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9) and will take all the time needed (not slow but patient), how can there be anyone who perishes for lack of knowing God?
1 Corinthians 2:14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
Does not accept, all sounds foolish, CANNOT understand!
A natural man. A man/woman who only have eyes for the things that make sense to them. A person who might attempt to hear the testimony of God but decides in the end it is only foolishness, wishful thinking, fairy tales, myths in the making, because after all NONE of it has caused him/her to believe.
But God… said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; (Genesis 1:26)
And He… formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)
Without judging, sometime between the time God saw their unformed substance; and wrote in His book all the days that were ordained for them, when as yet there was not one of them (Psalm 139:16) and when they became an adult, and did away with childish things (1 Corinthians 13:11)
They chose whom they would serve… even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. (Romans 1:21)
The REASON a natural man/women/child, CANNOT know God! It’s not just rebellion, or a mindset that needs changing. It is a stone cold heart! Romans 1:22-23 Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
I am devastated by this! I can speak words of Scripture all day long. I can tell my testimony every day until I am no more. I can (AND DO) pray that if not me, that God will send His workers into the harvest.
But this one… the one who’s soil CANNOT fix their knowledge of God…(Matthew 13:3-9 “Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. And others fell on the good soil and *yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.) Nor their hearing fix their understanding of God… He who has ears, let him hear.”
THIS ONE has to be a God fix! Ezekiel 36:26-27 Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
Maybe we all, everyone of us, must have God’s fix first!
Maybe someone was devastated when my heart of stone was revealed!
Maybe, as encouragers, as evangelists, as preachers, as neighbors, we should all be devastated and seek God first for a new heart in those we wish to “Go and make disciples”.
It certainly is a fine line between loving and judging, but Scripture says… If we confess with our mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved;
For it is with the heart a person believes… What kind of heart are we working with? A heart in the process of turning to stone, one finding a reason/excuse to close ourselves off from God’s Spirit?
Check the heart! Do you/they KNOW… it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13) Do you/they LOVE His presence? And with the mouth he confesses (Romans 10:9-10)… We speak of who and what we know!
Check the Testimony! Do you/they KNOW… that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Check the works! We will be able to tell… For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. (James 2:26)
I pray each of us will do the heart check… Come On… Pray THE BEST PRAYER EVER with me…
Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.
And then WE WILL KNOW the ones, those He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
To God be THE GLORY!! God is good all the time and all the time God is good!!
**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.