God Has A Greater Purpose
To overcome misery — constantly being miserable — we first need to know what we are dealing with. Because of His omniscience (all knowing) God knew man would battle with sin and its tragic results. He had a purpose in allowing things to happen as they did. The present situation is not this way by chance, choice, or chaos. When we face misery in our lives, the little miseries as well as the big ones, we need to remember God’s larger purpose, and how we are each a part of it.
The facts which are the results of sin are obvious. They are unavoidably present all around us all the time. All of us face sickness, and someday we will all die. There has always been crime and evil in the world. We each sometimes do things we know we shouldn’t, and neglect doing all we should. There are times when we enjoy God’s love and presence in our lives, but still fall prey to our own selfishness and pride at other times.
All this does not exist because of a bad environment, or because of the influence of bad people. We are all infected with the congenital disease of sin. This is explained in many portions of scripture, especially here in Romans chapter 5.
Romans 5:12, “… through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men …”
Romans 5:17, “… if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one …”
Romans 5:18, “… through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation …”
Romans 5:19, “… by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners …”
God defines “good” differently than we do
People believe they are doing “good” things, things that seem good to them, even that seem good relative to the norms and expectations of society. God says otherwise.
We often think of “good” in terms of how it benefits us in ways such as success, comfort, morality, and so on. We all agree that it is a good thing to enjoy the wonders of God’s creation and His provisions for us. We are truly happy to see the sick taken care of, the lonely visited, the grieving comforted, and the hungry get fed. However, God made all things to be done for His glory, not just for the comfort of his creatures.
When we do good without humbly giving God all the glory through Christ, we fail to do what makes a deed to be truly “good”. To do things for any other motive deprives the Creator of his proper praise. Living for His glory is the whole purpose of why He created mankind. If anything else is the center of our lives, we miss the fullness of God’s blessings and intentions
In Christ we have a whole new measurement of what things are “good.” However, in our natural fallen condition, we are unable to truly thank God as we should. It is not really good if the things we do are for personal glory, to advance our standing among men, or to sooth our troubled conscience.
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