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But God
Romans 5:8
Your ‘but’ matters. The word ‘but’ matters.
I can’t tell you how many times I will be talking with fellow Christians who are sharing a challenging time. Things are difficult and so they need encouragement and then I will share encouragement with them. I’ll remind them what Jesus says. Things like, don’t worry about tomorrow, but how you can cast your anxiety on him about how God sees you through Jesus. And they will often say, yes, I know that, but this is still going to be really challenging. But what about this thing? But… I will remind them of God’s truth, and then they sneak this little but in there that immediately turns away from the truth that we just talked about, and goes either right back to the source of anxiety, or right back to their shame, or right back to trying to prove they’re good enough. And that but, that kind of but is a problem.
It’s a problem because it shifts us away from God’s truth, but also because it really positions us or postures us as if our but actually has more weight than God’s Word.
Like what you see with your eyes actually means more than what God says in His Word. What you’re experiencing in your life is more significant than what God says in His Word. And that’s a problem. That’s something we need to lay before God and confess before him what you see, what you feel, what you’re experiencing, as significant as that all is, it is not, it does not have more weight than the words of the God of the universe. So lay that sin before the cross. And when you do, then you can shift to a better but.
I think of when we get to Romans chapter five and verse eight where it says,
BUT God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
But God. That but is the but that changes everything. You realize you’ve sinned. You realize that you’ve put your own experience over God. Okay, but God. But God sent his son Jesus, who died for you. You don’t know how tomorrow is going to work out. You are worrying about what’s ahead, but God has it all in his hands. You are stressed out about the past. You are worrying about your shame and your guilt. But God says that you are washed. You are clothed with Christ and that’s how he sees you. You say, yeah, but I don’t feel that way. But God doesn’t base it on your feelings. He bases it on what his son has done for you.
This but God changes everything, which is why, and I don’t know how well you can see it, actually, my PopSocket on my phone has those two words. But God. Because anytime you find yourself stuck in sin and doubt. Doubting your relationship, your life with God, your fear of the future, these two words, but God can make all the difference when they are followed by something from God’s Word. The good news of the gospel. Hope for the future. What God says about you. Whatever is going on in your life, remember, but God.
