And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Romans 8:28
A couple of weeks ago in church, we were blessed to have an artist, named Melissa, who shared her gift of speed painting. She walked out in front of a blank canvas and began to paint in front of an audience of thousands of people while we sang the song, "Behold the Lamb." As she started painting, the lines didn't make sense to me. Her brush strokes seemed messy and almost chaotic. There were strange splotches of paint that didn't connect with the whole, and I was somewhat perplexed. However, about 3 minutes into the song I began to see the outline of a face and beard. My skewed perspective began to come into alignment. She then painted the outline of the eyes. At that moment, it became crystal clear that it was Jesus. Out of every important brush stroke came a beautiful picture that magnified the greatness of the Lamb of God.
It may be that you are reading this devotional today and your life doesn't make sense. You may even feel like your life is a series of messy brush strokes and you can't see God's bigger picture. Let me remind you that God's masterpiece isn't complete yet. He is active and at work, bringing all the circumstances in your life to accomplish His purposes. Romans 8:28 reminds us that, "God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose." He allows us to go through temptation, trials, and even trauma, so we can grow closer to Him. He wants us to learn to depend upon Him daily. When we look to Him, we find strength and hope in believing that we are a work in progress.
Yet, every now and then, God gives us a peek at what He is up to as an artist. There are moments where you can look back at how He has come through or a time where you got it right in your faith, and you gave glory to Him. It's that moment where your kid got baptized, when you first stepped out of your comfort zone to share your faith, or when God gave you just the right words to say to a person who was hurting. These times are to be cherished. These are the times where we can give honor and praise to the Artist who is at work behind the scenes.
If you are worried that your life is a mess or if you are overwhelmed with problems, take heart. God is not through with you yet! You are His masterpiece!
If you are having trouble making sense of your life or are in the grips of a storm, we want to help as a church. We have opportunities to support one another in our small groups at Sagebrush. If you haven't found a group, make sure this weekend to get plugged in. If you have a serious issue, hurt, habit or hang-up that you can't seem to get rid of, you need to find your way to Living Free. Living Free offers care and recovery groups designed to help address the struggles and needs that each one of us has in life. To get more information about Living Free, check out our website at www.sagebrush.church/care. For your journal or notes, take some time to reflect on the glimpses that you have gotten of how God has been at work behind the scenes in your life.
Read Romans 8:18-30 (NLT)
Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.
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