When Your Faith is Weak

When I was a young Christian a friend of mine named Pat was brutally beaten in a gang fight. He ended up in a coma and was not expected to live. Pat's family knew I was a Christian and they asked me to pray.

It was overwhelming that people were counting on my prayers to help my friend. My faith, what there was of it, seemed so small and weak. 

Five Miracles God Works for All Christians, Part 5 of 5

One of the undeniable truths about getting older is that we’re not getting better, despite what birthday cards might say. We might be getting wiser, or mellower, or funnier. But physically as we age we’re getting fatter, saggier, balder, slower, blinder, and weaker.

That’s even what the Bible says. “…our outer self is wasting away…” (2 Corinthians 4:16). The truth hurts.

But thankfully there’s more to the Bible’s assessment than our wasting away. On the other side there’s a miracle for all Christians. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison (2 Corinthians 4:16-17). 

“An eternal weight of glory” – that’s what this post is about. We’ve talked about the wonderful Romans 8:29-30 miracles that God has already accomplished in the life of all believers in Christ, and we’ve mentioned four of them already: foreknown, predestined, called, and justified.

This post is about the last one: glorified. He brings us safely home. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

What does it mean to be glorified? Simply put, it means that God makes us like Him. “Glorified” means transformed on the inside and on the outside. It's what Romans 8:29-30 promises: ...he predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son...

Five Miracles God Works for All Christians, Part 4 of 5

Real miracles seem in short supply, but my hope has been to show how God has already worked five great miracles of grace in the lives of all Christians.

The miracle text is Romans 8:29-30 (with my emphasis): For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. 

So far I’ve spoken about the first three: the miracles of foreknowledge, predestination, and calling. (You could click here to review: #1, #2, #3). Which brings us to the fourth miracle: the miracle of justification - those whom he foreknew, predestined, called, he also justified. God Paid Our Debt and Declared Us Righteous.

Imagine that one day you stand before God. You’ve finished your earthly life, and what lies before you is either heaven or hell. You stand in a vast throng of people, and one after another comes before the Holy God of the universe.

Though there are many, many thousands in the multitude, the judgment line moves quickly. All too quickly. You are trembling and can barely stand. Your apprehension only worsens as you see what happens as each person comes to the front.

Instantly the life of the person who stands before God is revealed and reviewed. It’s as if an enormous high-definition screen is projected into the sky, and every detail of the person’s life is laid bare.

Five Miracles God Works for All Christians, Part 3 of 5

I taught our golden retriever, Gracie, to come when she was called, and it was pretty easy. While she was still a puppy, I took her out on the front lawn and had her sit. Then I walked a few feet away and called, “Gracie! Come!” And she did.

What made it easy was that I had a long cord tied around her neck. When I called her, I began gently tugging on the cord. She was going to come because of the cord, but I wanted her to want to come. If she lost focus, or started to ignore me, I continued to call her, steadily pulling, and she came. Then I gave her plenty of attention, scratched behind her ears, and told her she was a good dog.

I kept at it, with the distance between us growing a little greater each time. Gracie, come! After a while she didn’t even notice the cord. She loved to come when I called her. Soon I didn’t need a cord at all.

Five Miracles God Works for All Christians, Part 2 of 5

San Quentin, Death Row

Miracle is a word we use lightly. I made it home during rush-hour in only 40 minutes. It’s a miracle! Or, it’ll be a miracle if the Chargers get to the Super Bowl again… 

But God is still in the miracle business and every Christian is already the recipient of five divinely-appointed, eternally-secured, destiny-altering bona fide miracles. They are summarized in one of the most beautiful portions in God’s word, Romans 8:29-30. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Last time I talked about Miracle #1: God Set His Affection Upon Us, the miracle of God's foreknowledge.

This time let's look at Miracle #2: He Chose Us To Be His. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. The word "predestined" literally means to determine ahead of time. God in His grace decreed, chose, ordained, determined that we would be saved and that we would bring Him glory not only by believing in His Son but by becoming like Him. Our God chose us long before we were ever born. 

Five Miracles God Works for All Christians, Part 1 of 5

Has God worked any miracles in your life? Maybe “miracle” makes us think of healing from illness or being delivered from a natural disaster or providing financially in times of economic stress.

But there are miracles even greater than these, and God has already performed them in the lives of every believer in Jesus.

I did a short series of posts on the promise of Romans 8:28. (Click for part 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5). The verses that immediately follow that great promise summarize the miracles God has performed for every believer. Here are the verses in the ESV, and I’ve highlighted the miracle words:

²⁸ And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. Romans 8:28-30

I’d like to take a closer look at each of the five over the course of the next few posts.

Miracle #1: God Set His Affection Upon Us. Those whom he foreknew… To “foreknow” means that God, before time began, before we were ever born, “knew” us with the knowledge of intimacy and affection.

Including Us in the Miracle

One of the most admirable and wonderful things about Jesus is that He chooses to use people like you and me, even when He doesn’t need us and could do everything a lot better without us. He includes us in His miracles despite our frequent liabilities and stunted faith.

Consider the Feeding of the 5000 (cf. Mt. 14:13-21; Mark 6:32-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-14). The Apostles, probably miffed that their prayer retreat had been interrupted by the needy crowd, thought only of sending away thousands of hungry people. Instead Jesus challenged His disciples: You give them something to eat (Luke 9:13). 

Still thinking in self-protective mode, the Twelve protested that they had only a tiny morsel of food--a kid's lunch of dinner rolls and dried fish. To feed this crowd (perhaps as many as 20,000 men, women, and children!) would cost more than 8 months wages!

That’s when Jesus took over. Seating the crowd in groups of 50, Jesus took the boy’s lunch, thanked God for it, and the miracle began.

He first broke the loaves, handed out the pieces, and then did the same with the fish. One minute His hands held food, the next minute they were empty because it didn’t take long to pass out five loaves and two fish. But then His hands were full again. More bread, more fish. Again, He broke bread, handed out pieces, tore the fish into sections, passed them out. He emptied His hands, and then they were full again. Empty, full, empty, full. Jesus created more bread, created new fish.

Which brings me to this point. He could have done this miracle of creation any number of ways. He could have supernaturally produced a loaf of bread and a fish in the hands of every one of the multiple thousands who sat there. Or He might have offered a banquet at each of the groups of 50.

But here’s what He did: he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd (Luke 9:15, my emphasis). "Gave” means “kept giving.” Every piece of food passed from Christ through the hands of the disciples. He included them in the miracle. His divine power enabled them to do the impossible thing He had commanded.

Serving Christ is like that for all of us. We see the vast need, we’re overwhelmed, Christ commands us to do that which we cannot do in our strength, and then He supplies.

He is, after all, the Bread of Life (John 6:35). He, and only He, full satisfies both our emptiness inside and our desire to make things better for other hungry sinners like us.