The End is Justified Whatever the Means

Thursday, 12th April 2007

You have heard of the saying, "the ends justify the means".

This above carries negative connotations and is often quoted by ruthless people who will resort to whatever it takes in order to get what they want. For example, an office colleague will backstab, gossip, curry favour, etc in order to get that promotion at the expense of others.

Today, we will talk about "God justifies in the end, whatever the means", which is a Biblical perspective of events and circumstances.

What I have learnt recently is that it does not really matter whether one's motives is noble or pure, but ultimately what is the end result, because in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28).

In Genesis, we read about how Joseph's brothers sold him as a slave. Yet God cause something good to come out of something bad because Joseph's gift of interpreting dreams allowed him to become Pharoah's right hand man and Egypt had lots of grain in the 7 years of famine.

In fact, Joseph told his brothers in Gen 50:20 "you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result".

In Luke 15, we find that the motive of the Prodigal Son in returning was not because he was remorseful. Rather, he had come to the stage where he was even worse off that the hired servants in his father's house.

Yes, he *told* his father that he was sorry, but that was the "politically-correct" story that he spun. The truth was that he was thinking of his own well-being; he would rather be a servant than to spend his lifetime eating food meant for the pigs.

17"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!
18I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.'

The father however did not care what his son's motives were. He was just glad that the son who was lost was now found.

So what mattered was not the motive but the end result.

When the Roman soldiers whipped Jesus with the cat-of-nine-tails, their motive was to inflict the greatest pain upon our Lord. The end result was to fulfill Isa 53:5 for our healing.

When they gambled for his garments, their motive was personal gain. The end result was that Jesus became totally poor so that in divine exchange, we can become rich (2 Cor 8:9).

So let us not be affected by the ways of the world, and the means that the people of the world may adopt. We should continue to trust God and believe that whatever the means, He will justify the end. After all, He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end (Rev 1:8). He is the author and finisher of our faith (Heb 12:2). The good work He has started, He will bring to completion (Phil 1:6).

He will have the last say. He is the final answer. Amen?