Series: Saints
Message: Suffering
Preacher: Japhet De Oliveira
Reflection: Mark Witas
Live Wonder: Zan Long
Live Adventure: Zan Long
Live Purpose: Jason Calvert
Editor: Becky De Oliveira
Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.
Read: Romans 8:18-30 in the New International Version (NIV). Note 1–3 insights or questions.
Reflect: Paul writes, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God” (Romans 8:26–27).
One of my favorite things about God is found in this verse, “But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart’” (1 Samuel 16:7).
To know someone’s heart is to know someone’s true self. Outward appearances and actions can show us plenty about a person and who they are (by their fruits you shall know them) but honestly, for us to judge people by our perceptions of them can be misleading at best.
There’s a man in my community who scared me a little bit when I first saw him. We had just finished church in Graduation Grove (a beautiful piece of land at Pacific Union College) and were enjoying a sumptuous potluck feast together when I spotted him. Long scraggly hair, frayed cutoff shorts, wrinkled baggy shirt, $3 neon green sunglasses. Obviously someone off the street had wandered in. Better keep an eye on him.
He was walking around greeting people like he owned the place. It was only later that I found out that this was a long-time church member who owned a large and successful building company. He also spends every Sabbath donating his time and efforts to rebuilding the houses of a whole community who lost everything in some recent California wildfires. He has a huge heart for Jesus and His sheep.
I wonder what he saw when he first noticed me.
Today’s text gives us an insight into the very heart of God. He’s in tune with the Spirit, who is in tune with our hearts to such a degree that even when we don’t know how to prayerfully verbalize our deepest feelings, He hears our heart. The Holy Spirit (Christ in us) takes our heart to the Father, who moves on our behalf before we can even ask Him for what we need and want.
God looks past our outer appearance, past the facade we may put up for people to see, past our charades insisting that “everything is just fine,” and looks deep into the recesses of our heart. He uncovers our deepest needs and desires. He knows us. He sees us. He restores us.
Recalibrate: How hard is it not to judge people through the lense of perception and impression? How would we like to be judged?
Respond: The next time you see someone and are tempted to think poorly of them, be purposeful in getting to know them a little better and learning their story.
Research: Read the story of David’s choosing in 1 Samuel 16.
Remember: “Consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18, NIV).
Mark Witas is the lead pastor at Pacific Union College Church in Angwin, CA. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Mark has served as a youth pastor, Bible teacher, college and academy chaplain, and lead pastor in the United States and Canada for the last 33 years. He has also authored four books: Born Chosen, Live Out Loud, Portals, and Just Jesus.
Stickers are so much fun to play with. Encourage your little one to use their fingers to peel off the sticker. Watch as your little one discovers that the stickers stick to their fingers or even your nose. Show your little one how to stick the stickers to paper. Know that Jesus' love for us will always stick; it cannot be peeled off or worn out. His love is everlasting.
Have you ever heard the phrase, “I’m going to stick like glue to you?” Watch this video. In Romans 8:35, Paul talks about how nothing can ever separate us from the love of Christ. Imagine that Jesus’ love for you is the best glue ever. Check out these glue gun crafts and with the supervision of an adult, try one.
Have you ever experienced something absolutely horrible but then, when you retell the story later, the worst parts of the story are actually the best parts? For example: Maybe you went camping once, but then it started raining and your friend got sick, so you then had to pack up camp early (in the mud and rain) and head home. It was a terrible camping trip. But then, you retell the story later.
This time you actually exaggerate all the terrible parts. Instead of it simply raining, you explain how it was a torrential downpour (with cats and dogs). Instead of your friend merely getting sick, you expound on how he or she was heaving chunks violently all night, and so on. Isn’t it true that when we experience something horrible, when we retell the story later the worst parts actually become the best parts? And isn’t it true that when we tell these worst parts (now best parts) and everyone’s laughing, it brings us great joy? Apparently, according to Paul, this is what God does in our lives.
God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love GOD and are called according to His purpose for them. (Romans 8:28)
For years, this has puzzled me. How does God cause everything to work for good? How can death, disease, abuse, pain, suffering, injustice, addiction—you name it—possibly work for good? But then I read a similar illustration to the story I just presented. In our own lives and storytelling, we can think of examples of how we can take the bad parts of our stories and make them good. How much more can God do that? All powerful, all knowing, all loving God. Is it possible that God is at work right now making something that was once a horrible thing in your life actually a good thing and a blessing for others?
Like that time you fell learning how to ride your bike. It was horrible, right? But in the end, you learned how to ride, which brought you years of joy. Is it possible, right now, that God is at work re-creating something awful into something beautiful for you? What could that look and sound like? Today?