“The 8:28 guarantee is this: God will use even the worst things that happen for your ultimate good and His eternal glory.”- Mark Batterson
Mark Batterson concludes Chapter 22 of If by stating that Nantucket Nectar changed his life. It wasn’t drinking the beverage itself, but the saying inside one of the bottle caps:
“If every day were a good day, there would be no good days.”
Bad days help us appreciate the good days. Bad days give us a comparison point. Psychologists refer to this contrast between perspective and satisfaction as the contrast effect. How you view anything depends on your reference point. Your focus determines your reality- one way or the other. Mark ties in Romans 8:28:
“There is an element of interpretation in every experience. Our Rosetta stone is Romans 8:28. It’s the keyhole, the wormhole. Even when your life seems like a jumbled mess, you trust that the same God who created order out of chaos will make your life make sense.”
Pastor Batterson admits he is not smart enough to know what’s good for him and what’s not. The same is true for us. Too often what we see as good in reality is bad. The opposite also is true- what we think is bad often is good.
Making a distinction between immediate good and ultimate good is the key to understanding Romans 8:28. Mark explains how God uses even the worst things that happen for your ultimate good- and His glory:
“Where have you been wounded? That is often where God uses us to help others. In fact, that is part of the healing process. Our pain is leveraged for someone else’s gain. And somehow, some way, God turns if only into what if.”
Today’s question: How does the 8:28 guarantee enable you to let God leverage your greatest failures and deepest disappointments? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Bold predictions”
