Ron Rhodes, 1001 Unforgettable Quotes about God, Faith, & the Bible (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2011).
Nothing whatever, whether great or small, can happen to a believer, without God’s ordering and permission…There is no such thing as “chance,” “luck” or “accident” in the Christian’s journey through this world. All is arranged and appointed by God. And all things are “working together” for the believer’s good.
—J. C. Ryle (1816-1900), Anglican bishop, Liverpool
Bible Truth Behind the Quote:
“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).
Most of my writings focus on three main themes: Apologetics, the biblical/Christian Worldview, and the Sovereignty of God. These themes, or variations, are present in everything I write and post.
Earlier this week, I posted a Devotion titled “Foundations.” No matter your job or skill set, we all need a good understanding of the basics of our profession to get the job done. That concept is universal. So, too, as a professing Christian, our foundation must have a rock-solid starting point to defend our faith (Apologetics) and have a proper understanding of the world around us (biblical/Christian Worldview).
I am convinced this can only happen with a correct understanding of God’s sovereignty. If Christ is the cornerstone of our faith, then God’s sovereignty is the cornerstone of our Worldview. I will not rehash the same things previously posted; you can check them out below.
DEFINITIONS
apologetics. The theory and practice of defending Christianity. Numerous apologetic tasks are recognized within the Reformed tradition, including answering objections, responding to heterodoxy, demonstrating rational coherence of theological systems, providing evidence for the faith, assuaging doubts and exploring presuppositions. At the heart of the tradition, however, is the conviction held by theologians such as *Calvin and *Barth that God’s triune *revelation, rather than human reason, is the final arbiter in apologetic arguments. Reformed methods include classical, philosophical, *presuppositional and *worldview apologetics as advocated by (among others) B. B. *Warfield, Herman *Dooyeweerd, Cornelius *Van Til and Francis *Schaeffer, respectively.
Kelly M. Kapic and Wesley Vander Lugt, Pocket Dictionary of the Reformed Tradition, The IVP Pocket Reference Series (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2013), 14.
Sovereignty of God. God’s authority and power to accomplish his will as the supreme Ruler of all things. God expresses his sovereignty through his *decrees and actions, which are planned in complete independence from anything outside himself and enacted throughout *redemptive history. The Reformed tradition recognizes God’s sovereignty over all creation and particularly in his acts of *predestination, *effectual calling, *justification and *glorification of his people. This sovereignty is linked paradoxically and inseparably with human responsibility in a way that resists merely mechanical determinism, although Reformed theologians differ on the nature of human *free will. God’s sovereignty serves as a source of great comfort to Christians, whose hope rests in a God who controls all things for the good of his people and creation.
Kelly M. Kapic and Wesley Vander Lugt, Pocket Dictionary of the Reformed Tradition, The IVP Pocket Reference Series (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2013), 112–113.
worldview. A framework of concepts and values that enable understanding and engagement of the world. The term comes from the German Weltanschauung, originally coined by Immanuel Kant in his Critique of Judgment (1790). It began to appear in *Reformed theology at the end of the nineteenth century through the works of James *Orr, Herman *Dooyeweerd and Abraham *Kuyper, and later shaped the landscape of *evangelicalism through the influence of Francis *Schaeffer and Carl *Henry. As a concept encouraging Christian reflection on every area of life, worldview thinking has wielded enormous influence on *education and perspectives on *Christ and culture within the Reformed tradition and beyond.
Kelly M. Kapic and Wesley Vander Lugt, Pocket Dictionary of the Reformed Tradition, The IVP Pocket Reference Series (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2013), 129–130.
DEVOTION
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
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