Reflections – 2022.10

All Things for Good: The Attributes of God

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

“The blessed attributes of God work for good to the saints” – Thomas Watson

My father taught at Bel Air High School for most of my growing up.  When my older brother was about to enter high school, he transferred to another local school, at least in part because he didn’t want us to have an unfair advantage in our education.  I suppose he may have thought that his presence in the school would have made other teachers uncomfortable if they needed to discipline us, give us bad grades, etc… If that was his thought, he was not correct.  He was so well respected, it didn’t matter if he was physically there or not, we had an advantage.  His attributes of a solid work ethic, kindheartedness, stability and humility were appreciated by all of my teachers … I had an advantage.

As the people of God, Christians have an advantage, namely, that God Himself is working for our good.  If God is for us, who can stand against us?  Especially when we think of God’s attributes!  Thomas Watson mentions three attributes in particular in his book, All Things for Good: the power of God, the wisdom of God and the goodness of God.  The power of God supports us during our trials, helps us in our daily battles against the world, the flesh and the devil, and supplies all of our needs.  It is the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead and He is able to do the same for us.  The wisdom of God instructs us in the way that we should go.  We are not left alone to figure things out, but He has blessed us with His Word and His Spirit, and with other Christians who are wise, that we might receive the counsel we need.  The goodness of God produces repentance in us as we see how awful it is that we would sin against a God who has accomplished so great a salvation, and the goodness of God is the source of all our blessings, in this life and for all eternity.  A powerful God, a wise God, a good God … always working for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.

Even though I had an advantage in high school, I only on rare occasions, for which I would feel guilty afterwards, took advantage of that advantage to do something I should not have done.  God is for us, and that means all of His attributes are working for us.  And He will never abandon us, for we are His children after all.   It seems we ought never to try to take advantage of this truth to do things we ought not to do.  Rather, may we be thankful for this – that all the attributes of God are working for our good.  May we seek to please Him in our lives and imitate Him in our ways, and so give Him the glory He deserves.