Live Free with Josh Howerton - Developing Your Character | Ep. 221 | Monday, December 11, 2023

Episode Date: December 11, 2023

The holidays can be hard for some people. Maybe you are one of them. Romans 8:28-30 focuses our hearts and minds on God to remind us that even in a world full of challenges, He is the ultimate good. He will use the “not good” things in life to develop our character and make us more like Jesus. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's daily drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. This Christmas, we want to invite you and your family to join us for our candlelight services on December 22nd through 24th at any of our six locations. or for church online. For more information, visit latepoint.com. com slash daily drive. And now, let's dive in to today's devotional.

Hey, what's up, everybody? Welcome to the Daily Drive. Great to be back with you. My name is Mike Bro, and we spend a few minutes each day, Monday through Friday, just trying to draw closer to God. So thanks for joining us today in that pursuit. Hey, next week, I want to get all of our hearts ready for Christmas by talking about who Jesus is, and I cannot wait.

to unpack that with you. And I don't know about y'all, but I love the Christmas season. I love the lights, the decorations, the cookies, the shopping. Okay, I hate shopping. But I love Christmas music. I love Christmas movies. I love the real Christmas story because I love preaching about Jesus and the light and the hope and the peace that he brings.

I love the cookies. I love the joy of kids. I love the cookies. I mean, it really is my favorite time of the year. But I also know that for many people, it is a challenging time of year. And the reality is some of you have been and are still going through some really painful stuff.

So I thought we would spend this week talking about the very real hope that is ours. And I want to unpack a passage of scripture that is one of the most read, most quoted, misquoted, and tossed around verses in the entire Bible. I mean, people will tag sympathy cards with praying for you, Romans 828. They post memes of it on social media,

some even tattoo Romans 828, somewhere, on their body. It's a significant verse containing a significant promise. So I want to read Romans 8, 28 through 30, and then give you some things that God's been teaching me about going through hard times. And just a heads up, we are going to see a ton of scripture this week. So you might want to jot them all down so you can revisit them this week as we go. But let me just start with this one's Romans 8, 28 through 30. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

For God knew his people in advance and he chose them to become like his son so that his son would be the first born among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.

Yeah, I've been praying that our time here this week would flood your soul with hope because, man, life gets hard. and I pray that people in the Middle East, people in Israel, Palestine, people in the Ukraine of the parts of the world where life is really, really hard right now, would find that kind of hope and peace and comfort in the promises of God. In some of the verses preceding these in Romans chapter 8, it talks about how all creation is groaning.

All creation is longing to be whole, perfect, fully released, to be everything God originally intended. And the good news is, it's coming. But until that day, life here on the world. this broken planet, even though it can be really, really good, can also be really, really hard. Now, I want you to see that the star of this passage is God. All kinds of verbs about what he does. It says, God knows, God chooses, God calls, God shapes, God gives, God works all things together

for good. Now, it doesn't say that all things are good. Maybe you've seen this brand. There's stores in a lot of airports. The store, Life is Good. where they got T-shirts and hoodies and hats, you name it with Life is Good, printed on them. Now, I hope you know by now that I'm a pretty laid-back, positive, grateful, optimistic, glass-half-full kind of guy. But every time I see that Life is Good trademark, I want to look around the store, take a Sharpie, and write, sometimes.

Because, frankly, something stink. All things are not good. War is not good. Cancer is not good. miscarriages are not good racism is not good rejection is not good trafficking is not good abuse is not good mass shootings are not good

terrorism is not good natural disasters are not good but he is always and I think we get a bit blindsided when we confuse the two life is sometimes good and life is sometimes hard but God is always

and nothing but good And this good God is not only making all things new, it really won't be like this forever. Plus, our father can take all the bad, ugly, horrific junk of our life and make something good out of it. Now, we might not see the immediate good. We may not even see it on this side of eternity, but he assures us, he promises us that he is for us working in the dark behind the scenes on our behalf.

You see, when I don't get it, and most times I don't, when I don't see it, and most times I don't. It helps me to know that he has a much better view from above. I mean, God has reminded me many times through the words of Isaiah 55. He says, listen, bro, remember, my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are my ways, your ways, as the heavens are higher than the earth. So my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. When we go through tough stuff in our life, I found that essential to trust God's better view from above. To trust his wisdom, to trust what I know to be true about his heart,

and to also know that suffering can actually produce some things in me that nothing else can. I'm talking some good things, some impactful things, lasting things, eternal things. And I could probably list dozens of ways God uses pain and suffering to do great stuff in us. But I want to give you just six or seven this week. And the first one is this. Suffering enrolls us in UCD, in UCD, not LSU, not SMA, not U.S.C. or UCLA, but U.S. the University of Character Development. Anybody a graduate of UCD?

I sometimes feel like I'm permanent sophomore class president. But everyone got is used in significant ways went to UCD. Joseph, Moses, Elijah, Esther, Daniel, Mary, John the Baptist, Paul, even Jesus, are just a few of the distinguished graduates. And because it's usually very, like, remote learning, with a tough and demanding course load, many people drop out. But those who will hang with it come out with so much. more than a degree. They're able to walk into their world with a broader perspective and steady

nerves and courage and keen insight and utter dependence upon God and childlike simplicity and warm sympathy and deep humility and grace and patience. See, when we read her here, God works all things together for good. We have a tendency to define good is what brings us immediate pleasure, comfort, and happiness. But the context of that verse says that God defines good a little differently. Did you catch out God defines good? It's defined as whatever helps us become more like Jesus. Look at this again, verse 29. God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his son. You see, our definition of good, and God's definition of good don't always match up.

We're often thinking life, health, finances, careers, relationships that are always up and to the right. While God's definition of good is whatever makes you and me more like Jesus, and he will use all kinds of challenging circumstances to shape us. Now I'm a slow learner, but I'm learning that God cares a whole lot more about my character than he does my comfort. And he doesn't just want me to feel good. He wants me to become good, and often the road to becoming good doesn't feel all that good. God longs to be an artist to potter a sculptor in our lives

to put us on the wheel and shape us and mold us and chisel us to form us into his best version of us, his masterpiece, and he will use all things that come our way to do that. You see, Jesus is not only preparing a place for us, he's preparing us for that place.

I didn't like this when I first read it. I thought it was a little too blunt, but I've since reconsidered. Randy Alcorn writes this. Let's be honest. Virtually everyone who has suffered little and has been sheltered from life is shallow, unmotivated, self-absorbed, and lacking in character. You know it, and so do I. Yet we do everything we can to avoid challenges, both to our children and to ourselves. And if we succeed in our avoidance, we'll develop in

ourselves and our children the sort of character we least admire. He's just saying when we think of character development school, we all want to cut class. We're praying for a snow day, or we long for spring break, and when we do that, we miss out on so much. Jesus' brother James puts it like this in James chapter 1. Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow. For when your endurance is fully developed, you'll be strong in character and ready for anything.

And that's the definition of good. I'm praying that no matter what you might be going through right now that our time together in God's word this week would bring healing to your soul. And I hope that you'll even share these episodes with someone that could use some hope. God loves you so much. And he is constantly working in the dark for his glory and for your good. Rest in that today. And I'll see you back tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in today.

For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services. on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.com.