I like Big Buts …

No, not “butts.” I like the BUTS in the Bible wherein hopelessness and hardship is contrasted with God’s provision. Here are some very big BUTS!

My flesh and my heart may fail, BUT God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:26)

That is so true. Without God, I am an utter failure, BUT He is strength to me and always will be ... forever and ever.

He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. BUT you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:7-8)

In this age of the church, we don’t always know what is just around the corner. Unlike some “teachers” who have tried to set dates, God doesn’t give us the dates of the events of the future that we may or may not live to see. … BUT We have POWER (!) because of the indwelling Holy Spirit to be witnesses for Jesus Christ ... everywhere!

You killed the author of life, BUT God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. (Acts 3:15)

Jesus died. Our sin was the reason. There were some particular men that participated in the deed, BUT God raised Him from the dead! He was dead … stone cold dead … for three days, BUT He came back to life, never to die again. This life He offers to mankind – resurrection life! It wouldn’t be resurrection life if not for the death ... and the BUT.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. BUT God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! (Romans 5: 6-9)

No human being is worthy of the death of the Son of God. None of us could have commanded such an act of sacrifice: the laying down of the life of God on our behalf. As people in our respective societies, we would probably not be inclined to offer our life for someone else. If it was a good and righteous citizen who was threatened, we might give it a thought. However, it is highly doubtful that any of would trade our life for a disgusting pervert. This is what I see here. We were that repulsive rebel, BUT God put His love on display by releasing His life as ransom, even when we would not have been the slightest bit interested in knowing Him, but hated Him.

Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, BUT the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. (Romans 5:16)

We were all condemned, BUT the gift brought justification! Hooray!

The law was added so that the trespass might increase. BUT where sin increased, grace increased all the more … (Romans 5:20)

We should realize we have transgressed God’s perfect standard for human conduct, BUT He poured out Grace! No mountain of sins is higher than the Grace available!

For the wages of sin is death, BUT the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

This is my favorite BUT. We have earned death; we have worked for it. It is our “just reward.” BUT!!! God gives us ETERNAL LIFE instead! We receive the benefit of Christ’s work by grace through faith in that which He finished!

...We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, BUT not crushed; perplexed, BUT not in despair; persecuted, BUT not abandoned; struck down, BUT not destroyed. (2 Cor. 4:7-9)

We continue to struggle through life as a new creation in Christ. We are still in the body (and with the old man?) that is prone to sin, decay, sorrow and perplexity. We are in a world that is contrary to our Lord and we are not immune from persecution, BUT … we are not crushed! BUT, we are not in despair! BUT, we are not abandoned! BUT, we are not destroyed! Praise God.

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God … Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, BUT only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. (Rev 21:10 & 27)

Someday, after this age is over, God is going to bring something magnificent to pass! The New Jerusalem will be seen. Reading about it gives us a hint of what a fabulous place it is.

In this world, all the trouble, sin and sorrow that we have seen has been pitiful. There is wicked evil in man in this world … BUT not in the Holy City! There will be no brawlers there … no terrorists … no murderers … no child molesters … no thieves … no disobedience to parents … no drunkards … no jealous thinkers. No evil! These things will be gone because they are antithetical to God … who will be present there! There will be no deceit or nothing shameful left in those who enter it. We will be clothed in righteousness ... because our names are now in the book of Life.

I like the Big BUTS of the Bible.