“EXTRAS” is a follow up to the Friday Pondering post. It gives insight, commentary, and illustrations from pastors and scholars who also have spent time pondering the passage.
Howard Hendricks writes that…
The Bible was not written to satisfy your curiosity, but to make you conform to Christ’s image. Not to make you a smarter sinner, but to make you like the Saviour. Not to fill your head with a collection of biblical facts, but to transform your life.
On a wall near the main entrance to the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, is a portrait with the following inscription:“ James Butler Bonham—no picture of him exists. This portrait is of his nephew, Major James Bonham, deceased, who greatly resembled his uncle. It is placed here by the family that people may know the appearance of the man who died for freedom.” No literal portrait of Jesus exists either. But the likeness of the Son who makes us free can be seen in the lives of His true followers.
Romans 8:28 is an easy verse to believe when the sun is shining, but it’s something else entirely in the darkness of human tragedy. We doubt this verse for two reasons. First, Paul says “we know” when most of us don’t feel like we know. Second, Paul says “all things” when most of us would rather say “some things.” Surely the key word is the word “good.” For us, “good” usually means happiness, health, prosperity, and good fortune. Those things are indeed good, but God’s good far exceeds our limited vision. (Ro 8:29) tells us that God’s good is that we should be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Anything that makes us like Jesus is good. This gives an entirely new perspective to heartaches and tragedies. They are part of God’s plan to chip away little by little at our character until Jesus is fully formed in us.