NO GOOD THING DOES GOD WITHHOLD
Part 7
Conducting one-self as a Christian husband, wife, or parent does not ensure that one’s spouse or children will respond in kind, or choose to follow his leadership.
Whenever there is the free will of another individual involved, the outcome-principle of such passages as Proverbs 22: 6 is dependent on the free will of all the individuals involved.
Parents can lead the horse (children) to water (Gospel Message/sound doctrine), but you can not make it drink.
“Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when (if) he is old (spiritually mature) he will not depart from (following) it (Proverbs 22: 6 NASB parentheses mine).”
If compliance with sound doctrine were universally true, then the world would be getting better and better with each passing generation. This is clearly not the case. Both godly and ungodly individuals have come from the same upbringing.
Jesus taught that within the same family unit, some would respond and some would not (1).
In every congregation, some born again believers will pursue Biblical discipleship and some will not (2).
There is a big difference between two Christians being married to each other and having a Christian marriage.
Fulfilling one’s role as a Christian husband or wife does not ensure that one’s spouse will do the same.
Christian marriage succeeds when BOTH human partners choose to be obedient to the requirements (3) of the divine Partner (God) in the relationship.
The Christian home structure succeeds when children choose to submit to parental authority (4).
The Christian home was not designed to be a democracy. It was designed to be a theocracy in which the Word of God has the final say, with the husband/father as it’s chief executive officer.
Inordinate competition associated with independent agendas, abuse of authority, disrespect for marital and or parental authority, and unfaithfulness of a spouse, can cause much destruction.
It wasn’t God who brings these things into the picture. One should not expect to receive good things from making bad decisions. In human relationships, we can experience good things that are the result of good choices that we and others make, but we will also suffer the misery that is the result of bad choices that we and others make, as well.
The misery that disobedient spouses and children can bring into a home can be among the most difficult of life’s disappointments to overcome.
Biblical Christianity has never dominated the thoughts and actions of the world’s population, as a whole.
Divisions within the Christian Community, later to become known as denominations, have been an issue from the earliest years of the Church Age (5), with each group believing it is they who have all the right answers, practices, and procedures.
When there are opposing doctrinal beliefs with accompanying requirements and prohibitions, they can not all be correct. The teachings and practices either are, or they are not, in line with the Word of God.
Man has a long history of promoting the precepts of men as having come from God.
“But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men (Matt. 15: 9 NASB)."
While some denominations or groups within the Christian Community are more in line with the Word of God than others, there is the ONGOING need for review (6) and alignment in all of them.
In many Protestant worship services, a 17th century doxology (Praise God from whom all blessings flow…) is customarily sung by the congregation as the weekly contributions are brought forward and ceremonially presented to God as an offering.
But like many other practices, worshipers go through the motions without focusing on the spiritual activity. In this case, the worshipers are to acknowledge that ALL of the blessings we receive and or experience come from or through the hand of God.
In our pride and arrogance, we boast of all the things “we” have obtained and accomplished, failing to realize that without the ongoing gift of our next breath, “we” would not have had the opportunity to do anything, or to enjoy any of the prosperity that “we” have accumulated.
Some blessings come directly from God, whereas others come through the means that God provides.
It is easy to rejoice when the good things that God sends or allows line up with what we desire. Such things are what human viewpoint would consider “good.”
But from God’s viewpoint, anything that contributes or facilitates the plan that He has in mind is a “good” thing.
For Joseph, this meant being sold into slavery and false imprisonment. For Job it meant loss of (adult) children whose welfare he made a part of his prayer life; the loss of his great material wealth; and intense pain and agony with the loss of his personal health.
In the case of Joseph (7) and Job (8), the eventual earthly outcome was promotion, restoration, and blessing.
But for many others, the plan of God calls for some of His children to risk, and in some cases to lose, their freedom, their possessions, and their lives after being abused and tortured for their faith.
“All these died in faith, WITHOUT receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance (being willing to wait to receive their reward in Heaven), and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth (Heb. 11: 13 NASB parenthesis mine).”
Even death becomes a good thing when it is seen as the door through which a born-again believer passes through in order to enter the blessings and glory of Heaven.
In closing, let’s keep in mind who it is that God will not withhold any good thing.
“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly (Psalms 84: 11 NASB).”
May God give each one of us the spiritual insight to perceive the good in every situation and be thankful for it.
This ends our NO GOOD THING DOES GOD WITHHOLD series.
___________
(1) Matt. 10: 34-36 (2) Mark 4: 14 – 20 (3) Eph.5: 24, 25 (4) Eph. 6: 1 (5) 1Cor. 1: 12 /Gal. 3 (6) 2Cor.13: 5 (7) Gen. 41: 40 (8) Job 42: 12, 16, 17
Part 7
Conducting one-self as a Christian husband, wife, or parent does not ensure that one’s spouse or children will respond in kind, or choose to follow his leadership.
Whenever there is the free will of another individual involved, the outcome-principle of such passages as Proverbs 22: 6 is dependent on the free will of all the individuals involved.
Parents can lead the horse (children) to water (Gospel Message/sound doctrine), but you can not make it drink.
“Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when (if) he is old (spiritually mature) he will not depart from (following) it (Proverbs 22: 6 NASB parentheses mine).”
If compliance with sound doctrine were universally true, then the world would be getting better and better with each passing generation. This is clearly not the case. Both godly and ungodly individuals have come from the same upbringing.
Jesus taught that within the same family unit, some would respond and some would not (1).
In every congregation, some born again believers will pursue Biblical discipleship and some will not (2).
There is a big difference between two Christians being married to each other and having a Christian marriage.
Fulfilling one’s role as a Christian husband or wife does not ensure that one’s spouse will do the same.
Christian marriage succeeds when BOTH human partners choose to be obedient to the requirements (3) of the divine Partner (God) in the relationship.
The Christian home structure succeeds when children choose to submit to parental authority (4).
The Christian home was not designed to be a democracy. It was designed to be a theocracy in which the Word of God has the final say, with the husband/father as it’s chief executive officer.
Inordinate competition associated with independent agendas, abuse of authority, disrespect for marital and or parental authority, and unfaithfulness of a spouse, can cause much destruction.
It wasn’t God who brings these things into the picture. One should not expect to receive good things from making bad decisions. In human relationships, we can experience good things that are the result of good choices that we and others make, but we will also suffer the misery that is the result of bad choices that we and others make, as well.
The misery that disobedient spouses and children can bring into a home can be among the most difficult of life’s disappointments to overcome.
Biblical Christianity has never dominated the thoughts and actions of the world’s population, as a whole.
Divisions within the Christian Community, later to become known as denominations, have been an issue from the earliest years of the Church Age (5), with each group believing it is they who have all the right answers, practices, and procedures.
When there are opposing doctrinal beliefs with accompanying requirements and prohibitions, they can not all be correct. The teachings and practices either are, or they are not, in line with the Word of God.
Man has a long history of promoting the precepts of men as having come from God.
“But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men (Matt. 15: 9 NASB)."
While some denominations or groups within the Christian Community are more in line with the Word of God than others, there is the ONGOING need for review (6) and alignment in all of them.
In many Protestant worship services, a 17th century doxology (Praise God from whom all blessings flow…) is customarily sung by the congregation as the weekly contributions are brought forward and ceremonially presented to God as an offering.
But like many other practices, worshipers go through the motions without focusing on the spiritual activity. In this case, the worshipers are to acknowledge that ALL of the blessings we receive and or experience come from or through the hand of God.
In our pride and arrogance, we boast of all the things “we” have obtained and accomplished, failing to realize that without the ongoing gift of our next breath, “we” would not have had the opportunity to do anything, or to enjoy any of the prosperity that “we” have accumulated.
Some blessings come directly from God, whereas others come through the means that God provides.
It is easy to rejoice when the good things that God sends or allows line up with what we desire. Such things are what human viewpoint would consider “good.”
But from God’s viewpoint, anything that contributes or facilitates the plan that He has in mind is a “good” thing.
For Joseph, this meant being sold into slavery and false imprisonment. For Job it meant loss of (adult) children whose welfare he made a part of his prayer life; the loss of his great material wealth; and intense pain and agony with the loss of his personal health.
In the case of Joseph (7) and Job (8), the eventual earthly outcome was promotion, restoration, and blessing.
But for many others, the plan of God calls for some of His children to risk, and in some cases to lose, their freedom, their possessions, and their lives after being abused and tortured for their faith.
“All these died in faith, WITHOUT receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance (being willing to wait to receive their reward in Heaven), and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth (Heb. 11: 13 NASB parenthesis mine).”
Even death becomes a good thing when it is seen as the door through which a born-again believer passes through in order to enter the blessings and glory of Heaven.
In closing, let’s keep in mind who it is that God will not withhold any good thing.
“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly (Psalms 84: 11 NASB).”
May God give each one of us the spiritual insight to perceive the good in every situation and be thankful for it.
This ends our NO GOOD THING DOES GOD WITHHOLD series.
___________
(1) Matt. 10: 34-36 (2) Mark 4: 14 – 20 (3) Eph.5: 24, 25 (4) Eph. 6: 1 (5) 1Cor. 1: 12 /Gal. 3 (6) 2Cor.13: 5 (7) Gen. 41: 40 (8) Job 42: 12, 16, 17