Nougat 9

Wanna hear something profound? Check out today’s Holy Nougat

“We know that God works all things together for good for the ones who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭28‬ ‭CEB‬‬

All things

As part of our worship during the 11th assembly in Karlsruhe, the WCC Spiritual Life team had us repeat two phrases

All are Welcome

All means All

I borrow the concept for our meditation today

All things are going to be good by God

All means All

Amidst everything we face, including the things that already seem good, let us constantly remind ourselves

All things are going to be good by God

All means All

I feel led to spend a minute unpacking the term All Things. In Greek, it is expressed as πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν (pas), which in English transliterates to ‘all’ or ‘every’. The Helps online notes in Strongs further states, ‘ pás (“each, every”) means “all” in the sense of “each (every) part that applies.” The emphasis of the total picture then is on “one piece at a time.” (ananeóō) then focuses on the part(s) making up the whole – viewing the whole in terms of the individual parts‘.

Isn’t that refreshing news? Whatever we face or experience is one part of a larger plan or purpose. For camera buffs, or those needing to upload pictures to any document, we can think of each part as a pixel. *God’s Good Purpose* for our Life is the Big Picture. Each pixel on its own has momentary and infinite value. To itself and the Big Picture respectively. I say infinite because what we do and experience in a moment has the potential for eternal implications.

On the weekend I was in the city of Bonn, Germany. It’s Beethoven’s town. While he lived there as a child, Bonn had no intrinsic value as it does now, simply because at one moment Beethoven lived there. Now, it’s all about his legacy – that lives centuries after his death. Yet, we know that lead in his system rendered him deaf mid-career. Hearing aids and his God-given rhythm and musicality kept him going. He wrote some of his best works, including the 9th symphony, after deafness set in.

All things worked according to God’s plan in that instance. Beethoven might not have felt like that, but for those of us who appreciate his music some 200 years later. All means All.

In our moments of joy and exhilaration, we may opt to share with others what we experience, transforming ourselves and the others to whom we extend our blessings. Again it has the potential for infinite returns beyond our lives and lifetime. That too is working towards God’s Plans. It’s part of God’s Big Picture. If those moments were not there, then the balance of light and shadows wouldn’t be the same. We can appreciate the good because of the bad. Let’s choose to be open to God’s long-term good at work in all circumstances. All means All

If Beethoven could establish a new music genre from his deafness, if each moment we experience is a pixel in God’s Good Purpose, then we must be open to thank God in all circumstances.

All things … All means All

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May all we seek be found in Christ