“One of the reasons we have a hard time believing that God’s grace is working for good in our lives is because of how we define the word good. We have our own ideas of how God should work for our good . . .”- Kyle Idleman
Pastor Kyle Idleman concludes Chapter 10 of Grace Is Greater as he talks about how we define the word good. We tend to believe that if God works everything for our good, the results should match how we define the word good. Conversely, when adversity strikes, we feel that God’s failed to keep His promises.
However, Kyle observes, God’s grace works in the midst of our pain to bring about goodness in two ways:
- God’s grace works in your pain to draw you closer to Jesus. The worst thing that ever happened to you ends up as the best thing that ever happened. Why? Because that event brought you closer to Jesus.
- God’s grace works in your pain to make you more like Jesus. God uses all you’ve been through to make you more like Jesus. Therefore, your pain always has a purpose. And when pain has a purpose, we’re able to find the strength to endure.
In conclusion, Kyle finds it helpful to distinguish between reason and purpose. That’s because we don’t always know if there’s a reason for our pain. But, we do know that God, in His grace, always provides a purpose. Hence, Pastor Idleman compares reason and purpose.
Reason:
- looks for a because
- wants a logical explanation that makes sense out of what happened
Purpose:
- focuses on the for
- offers us a hope that God is able to work good out of what happened
As Kyle encourages, just keep reading.
Today’s question: How do you define the word good? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: the Annotated Bibliography of Grace Is Greater
