God's Plant!!

There are two common cries in the world:

1, "This is crazy, it doesn't make any sense at all!" (I expect this sounds familiar!!)

2, "There must be more to life than this!" (Again, sound familiar?!)

OK, so life sucks at time and we strive for the perfection in this world. I remember seeing one of those cute posters where a puppy or kitten was crawling over a pile of text books saying, "There's a weekend around here somewhere!"

OK, so we have a world where we are trying to get on and act as if every light so going to be green, we will always get through to the helpful person who will answer the phone straight away and wont put us on hold! We expect our work to get published on blogger when we click the publish button and wont disappear!

So, now let's find out who is behind this great mess!

"20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 23And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body." Romans 8:20-23.

"Subject to futility" - foolishness, as in, "That don't make any sense at all!"

"Hope" - an expectation of better things, as in, "There has to be more to life than this!"

Now, are we, as the children of God, supposed to live in the futility? No, we are the sign posts to the "more!" We are not supposed to be camping in the, "Well this just doesn't make any sense!" We know it don't make sense before we start because God's word says it don't make sense! We know there is more to life than this, that's what we have bought into. But those around us who are ignorant are asking the question, we shouldn't be asking the question. We have been put here to give the answer!!

We don't expect a green light at every junction, we laugh at the red lights because we know that creation has been subject to futility so that we can release people from it's bondage to a new hope. We know we have already won the victory. It is like being in a war, still being shot at but knowing that we will be on the victory parade! We can laugh at the futility of the enemy who is trying to shoot at us. We have a confidence.

The world around us think you need a PhD in order to say stupid things!! For example, we would say that a baby in a mother's womb is a baby! A human life, but no, you need a PhD to say it's not a human being, it's not a life it's a Foetus!! Does that make sense? No, that is about as stupid as you can get, there has to be more to life than this, and there is!

Our kids don't stop and say to us, "I really do appreciate all you do for me. I mean the food you cook is so good and nutritious too. My clothes are always there in the drawer fresh and folded every morning. You always manage to get everything I need when I need it, I am so grateful!" That because the world is subject to foolishness by God so that those around us will look for a hope and we are also put here to give it to them. But we get too busy camping in the futility and complaining along with everyone else.

We don't need to complain because we know ahead of time that life ain't going to give us green lights, but we know we have the overall victory and therefore stopping at red lights is not where we live, are only visitors here, our home is a place where there are only green lights!!

Notice where this passage comes in, right in the middle of Romans 8! From here Paul goes on to say that God works all thing together for the good of those who love Him! He then says that those whom God has appointed for salvation are predestined to get there. He then goes on to say that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Why does he say all of this at the end of chapter 8? I have often wondered what the link is between the beginning of chapter 8 and the end, and have always missed this! The beginning of chapter 8 says that we are to live according to the spirit and not the flesh, the says about all this stuff that God has basically got it sorted for us, what's the link? The link is that we are still living in a fallen world. Like when Peter looked at the waves he started to sink, but Jesus still rescued him. We are in a storm, if we look at the waves we are looking at a problem that is no problem at all for our God.

So what is our response? There are four immediate responses:

1, walk by the spirit and put of the flesh (our own connection with the world of futility.) In Galatians 5 it starts by talking about the deeds of the flesh and ends by talking about the fruit of the Spirit. We are hypocrites when we come in the name of Jesus and display the deeds of the flesh. Imagine a sales rep for a company coming to your door, he represents a company your trust so you have invited him round. However, when he comes in he says, "Look just between you and me, I'm starting my own business in competition with my firm. I would rather show you what I sell than what the firm sells!" That wouldn't be honest would it. He has used the respectable name of a big company to gain access to sell his what he wants to sell.

2, pray, we are in the world but not of the world. We cannot change what God has set in place. He has subjected creation to futility, when we see futility getting out of hand we need to get God's attention about it, like when Peter was sinking!! "LORD - HELP!!!"

3, Care for those who are suffering as a result of the futility. Whether it is James talking about the widows and the orphans in their distress, or Isaiah talking about being a father to the fatherless, and a husband to the widow. We are to be a sign to those in the world that there is a God who cares and loves them.

4, Be prepared to give an answer to those who ask.